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By Japkirat Singh Being a single mother , Baljinder Kaur has already faced many difficulties and COVID-19 situation has only added to her problems. She is putting in more hours at work with little time for her children . Baljinder, a constable with the Punjab Police , is the mother of two sons, eight and 14 years old. She lost her husband after five years of marriage. Baljinder is a responsible police woman. “Most police officers are deployed at the check post in the city. I am happy and privileged to be working on the frontline of the battle against Covid-19. We make people aware about guidelines issued by the government and deal with a number of people who are not obeying the instructions,” Baljinder said. After facing a lot of stress, Kaur is trying her best to balance her personal and professional lives. “Loss of a parent makes life difficult for both the children and me,” she said. “At times work will demand more time and at other times your household will need your time. Just keep putting your best foot forward,” said Baljinder. Since the outbreak of pandemic, Baljnder has been living in a separate room. Her neighbours have extended support and prepare meals for her children. Her only regret is that she is not able to have food with her sons. “I want to eat with them but have to control that urge. I don’t want to put my children at risk by getting close to them lest they get infected,” she said. “When I return home, the only thing in my mind is to keep my children safe,” Baljinder said. Her job demands her being in public places for long hours which makes her vulnerable and also puts her children at risk. Baljinder’s superiors have offered to let her stay home and devote some time for her children. However, she has so far turned down that offer on the pretext that she does not want to compromise on her commitment to her work. Baljinder’s elder son, Amanjot Singh, said, “I am proud of my mother and her commitment to her duty of saving other people’s lives. That is what makes her a hero.” The story first appeared in The Times of Bennett, the lab newspaper produced by the first semester students of The Times School of Media.

By ISHITA SINGH NEW DELHI: Being bored during quarantine , there was a sudden rise of internet activity all over the world, many people started sharing their passion and talents through various social media platforms, especially Instagram . Ananya Arora, @thundermoon18, an 18-year-old BBA student, started posting music covers on Instagram during the lockdown. She had been playing the guitar since the age of 14 and wanted to share her talent with the world. She stated that she saw a rise in the number of followers when she first started posting but does not see that response anymore. “Nowadays only the girls who make stupid Reels (short videos clips on Instagram) are being followed and liked. Talent does not matter anymore, only the face does these days.” Ananya said. She realized that she enjoys making music covers of English pop songs which is her primary content but does not like posting it on the internet and has a private page now. Arjun Singh, @arjun_aesthetic, an eighteen year-old, fitness-influencer on Instagram, on the other hand, states that posting on the internet has been the best thing he has ever done. He currently has 2,290 followers while having less than 500 at the start of lockdown, He started fitness training at the age of 17 when he was a school student living in a hostel. When lockdown started, he was not good at social media management neither did he had an interest in it. He started posting his fitness routines and got a great response, his inbox was flooded with messages where people were asking for his advice, which encouraged him to open a YouTube channel. “I like sharing my knowledge with people and even the fact that my advice helps someone makes me feel, if my channel grows, I can definitely see this as potential career option.” He is currently studying for the NEET exams which will be held in 2021. Krishnna, @chekshart, an 18-year-old college student, had a quotes page on Instagram but lockdown made her completely change her page. She converted it into an art page. She developed an interest for art when she was bored during quarantine. She said, “Patience is key” and it takes time to gain followers but after gaining an audience consistency is more important to maintain followers. Krishna said “social media is not a place for a talented person who would just give up one day, to gain fame on social media you have to have a lot of patience and consistency because this place is for the people who are already recognized by the world. I agree some people gained fame through social media but it mostly depends on luck.” She currently has 2,670 followers and is very active on social media. The story first appeared in The Times of Bennett, the lab newspaper produced by the first semester students of The Times School of Media . Join exciting programmes offered by Bennett University

By AYUSH KHURANA NEW DELHI: Climate change and environmental degradation have been making headlines for quite some time. To avoid more damage to the environment, many companies are shifting to Green Production . A male grooming company, ‘ Everman ’, is handled by a team of five people including the owner Hardik Singhvi, who lives in Telangana. They mainly sell hair products such as hair waxes, pomades and hair serums. Their products are free of alcohol, sulphates and parabens which do not damage anyone’s hair. Their products are cruelty- and plastic-free. Everman also uses biodegradable jars, which are ocean-friendly too. After Everman has stepped into the world of green manufacturing , it attracted many consumers due to its transition. Due to this step, the company featured on many Instagram posts, which promoted sustainable development. It was a positive point for them as during this time of environmental degradation, many consumers are searching for products, which are plastic free. So switching to green manufacturing also helped them in boosting up their sales. Many buyers from large businesses are looking for more sustainable options of production and services which can share sustainability. After shifting to sustainability, the manufacturing becomes more feasible and free of charge. Green Manufacturing will be the most efficient way to decrease waste from operations and improve the quality of the product. Green manufacturing has many benefits such as reduced costs, friendly packaging, contribution to the environment and many more. In India, Green Manufacturing is at a stage where it is ready to take off. While, there are many companies, which are on their way to switching to sustainable production. The transformation journey to green manufacturing has just started. In India, if there is a successful transformation to green manufacturing, it will bring spectacular benefits to industry. The story first appeared in The Times of Bennett, the lab newspaper produced by the first semester students of The Times School of Media . Join exciting programmes offered by Bennett University

By ARCHISHA YADAV GWALIOR: For Medha Gupta, a Chemistry teacher at Scindia Kanya Vidyalaya, remote working was never a challenge, but remote teaching definitely is. Even after a teaching experience of 18 years she finds taking online classes challenging. She said, “In the beginning, most of us had to adapt to technology that we weren’t familiar with overnight. And as a result, the working hours increased.” Along with being the HOD of her subject, she had to play technology trouble-shooter, and her phone never stopped buzzing. She said, “Despite the availability of the content and resources, its application, how to use it and how to deliver it to the students in the right manner is the real deal.” According to her, when one meets a student in a classroom, a connection is established, and it becomes easier to clarify any doubts immediately. However, in online classes, the connection is lost which has to be established over time with content delivery and interactions. While some teachers still believe that the future of education is in the classrooms, Nabia Fatima, an English teacher at the same school as Medha, holds a different opinion. She believes that the pandemic has radically changed the concept of traditional education in the past few months and virtual learning will be the future of education. “Keeping ourselves and the students engaged has become the priority since the lockdown, and virtual classes have proved to be helpful in these difficult times. This powerful medium has diversified the field of education,” she said. “Earlier, teachers were not so familiar with online teaching at the school level, except for the computer science faculty. Now, along with the teachers, every profession has chosen the virtual platform, providing new opportunities to both learners and the experts. Therefore, online teaching is more of an opportunity than a challenge,” Fatima added. The story first appeared in The Times of Bennett, the lab newspaper produced by the first semester students of The Times School of Media . Join exciting programmes offered by Bennett University

By ARADHAYA SEHGAL CHANDIGARH: Pollution has been a menace for a long time now. However, all types of pollution are not entirely known to the public, one of which is light pollution . An astronomy expert, Akshit Khunger, was on a hill in Uttarakhand to observe a yearly meteor shower called the Geminids . “Light pollution is when, due to the enormous number of lights lit up on the ground, the stars are not visible in the density that is actually present in the night sky at the given time. Light pollution can possibly kill one of the oldest sciences that we have in the world - Astronomy - explained the astronomer, who along with a friend has started a venture called Astrofanatics. It is an initiative for those who wish to learn the dynamics of astrophotography along with the science behind those umpteen celestial objects in space. On being asked for suggestions to curtail this pollution, he proposed, “The usage of lights in households and otherwise should be reduced to necessity as much as possible after sunset. Excess lightening can also be cut down by dimming the street lights, which will serve both the purposes of keeping the streets safe for travel and helping budding and professional astrophotographers to capture the sky.” “Approximately, 95-96% of disturbance in stargazing, the main exercise of astronomy, is caused due to light pollution and the rest by air pollution, as noticed during our expeditions over the years,” said the 23-year-old, when asked about the major constraints at the fieldwork in his profession. “The smog in areas like Delhi-NCR is the reason behind not being able to see the bright sky, causing people interested in this science to move to places with lesser AQI, while also keeping in mind the lower density of lights lit up during the night,” he added. Akshit went on to explain the Geminids meteor shower which was to occur on the night of 13 December, for which he and the co-founder, Tushar Goyal, took up astronomy sessions at a resort at Ranikhet , which was their gazing site. “Geminids is one of the best meteor showers of this year because it has coincided with the New moon this time, which means, the sky will be cleared of the light pollution caused by the moon, giving the finest view that one can have of the sky,” Akshit said, sparking an excited chatter amongst the participants, who gathered from all over India, to witness the shower through the trip organised by the Astrofanatics team. He responded to their enthusiasm by recalling the progress of the organisation, “We are gaining an audience already and it’s going on as well as a start-up should.” He also added that the objective behind Astrofanatics is, “Our primary focus is to educate people on the practical, intriguing side of this age-old concept rather than the theory they might have studied till now.” (The story first appeared in The Times of Bennett, the lab newspaper produced by the first semester students of The Times School of Media .) Join exciting programmes offered by Bennett University

By C Shivmani HYDERABAD: The debate over whether it is right on the part of the government to have curtailed the free space on the internet by regulating the OTT platforms is still raging. But most contend that the measure infringes upon the right to freedom to freedom of speech and expression. “The OTT platforms have grown rapidly to become the main source of entertainment. While all other media platforms are regulated and various bodies govern them, the biggest concern in regard to OTT platforms is that they are not regulated,” Ganesh Repati, a Mass Media student based in Hyderabad, said. According to him, it is essential to regulate the OTT platforms because they sometimes contain indecent content which has been claimed to be religiously inappropriate, vulgar and a slur on women. “The OTT platforms may have boosted the careers of many artists, directors and others. Yes, I agree they are the best alternatives for cinema but there should be some rules and regulations on these online platforms to avoid controversies. The Government also needs to be careful that these regulations are not an infringement of the freedom and creativity of directors and film-makers,” he said. For 20-year-old Naga Vasu who is a student of diploma in media studies in Hyderabad, the regulations curtail creative freedom. “All OTT platforms should agree to carry out strict content mechanisms for access control (like child locks), but imposing a lot of regulations would undermine creative freedom. Why should only OTT platforms be censored? What about the other content on the Internet,” he asked. Censorship kills creativity, feels Vasu and this, he adds, can be understood by seeing how good the content on OTT platforms is as compared to movies released in theatres. “Content released in theatres undergoes censorship by the Censor Board but still they are not up to the mark. Streaming content is like a product which discloses its content and lets the consumer decide if he or she wants to purchase it,” he added. “Today all major streaming platforms are following their own standards. In future, there may be need of a regulatory body that standardises the system and helps keep a close eye on the content, but it should not have the power completely censor any content,” Vasu says. Regulation of content includes compulsory licensing and certification. But the fact is Internet is a global platform and regulating all the content on the Internet is next to impossible. The proposed code, also known as ‘Code of Best Practices for Online Curated Content’ aims at making illegal any content that is derogatory to the national flag or national emblem, any content that promotes illicit activities such as terrorism, child pornography; Content that is offensive for the sentiments of any religious community or any other content which is banned by the country. However, the code has been criticized for using umbrella terms, and the non-specificity of the language used may cause violations of speech and expression. There should be some regulations on such platforms but the Government should also be careful not to curb the distinct advantages that OTT platforms provide. “There should be a self- regulatory authority which is an independent body consisting of industry professionals. There should be minimum interference of Government bodies. Once Government bodies interfere there would be a lot of limitations and OTT platforms would not have a free hand for sharing the content. A stringent policy and regulation in this sector will also discourage future investors thereby directly and negatively affect the industry,” he said. The goal should be a sustainable platform with the freedom to express art without causing disruptions in society and hurting sentiments of any gender, ethnicity or race. Students should have a say as they will bring progressive ideas and will be the main benefactors of the changes, he added. (The story first appeared in The Times of Bennett, the lab newspaper produced by the first semester students of The Times School of Media .) Join exciting programmes offered by Bennett University

By NANDINI SACHDEV KANPUR: Families in smaller towns are finding it increasingly difficult to find paramedical assistance. The increasing dependence of the older population on paramedical workers has raised the demand for more skilled people. “As people grow old, they begin start facing health problems and their overall body activity starts deteriorating. As their bones become weaker, simple tasks like walking becomes difficult. The elderly and the infants are the same because both need similar care and vigilance,” says Group Captain Alka Srivastava , a medical officer with the Indian Air Force . Not everyone can give proper attention to the elderly so they resort to home nursing services which help the family in dealing with the health issues of their elderly kin in a professional manner. “The need for paramedical assistance is not limited to old-age people. It is also required by people suffering from trauma, psychological disorders and others,” says Srivastava. She was posted to Kanpur in 2019 along with her doctor husband. Other members of the family include her son, who is in senior secondary school, her daughter, who is a fresher in college, and her mother Narinder Kumari Veer, who is 78 years old. The family has been looking for a nurse for the post-operation recovery of Veer. “Finding these services in cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Bengaluru were way easier than in places like Kanpur and Bareilly,” Srivastava said. Recently, her mother went into surgery in Lucknow for a vascular issue. Post-surgery periods require more and delicate care which brings stress on families. “Previously in such situations, we could call a nurse to take care of my mother while I was in office and my maid has a lot on her plate as well,” said Srivastava. “In Kanpur, it's hard to find trained nurses as there is either the issue of time or the location or sometimes a female attendant is not available,” she said. The family is still looking for an attendant despite it being more than two months. Several families today need such services to look after their elderly. In India, there are agencies that provide nursing assistance but that varies from place to place. Some of these agencies teach their employees nursing skills on how they are supposed to handle situations with old people who are in pain or are unwell. “Most nurses turn down the job offer because of the location of the client. Many people turn it down since it's not feasible to travel to the destination. In some cases, the attendants are young, so people doubt their skills. It's easy to find male attendants as they have flexible hours. As for female attendants, time is a restriction. Some agencies cannot provide the specialised personnel trained for the conditions of the patient that demand challenging care. Approximately 70 per cent paramedics in the country are not trained for the jobs they do,” says Captain Singh Sherawat, general secretary of the Joint Forum of Medical Technologists of India (JFMTI), an umbrella body. Nursing assistant agencies can be found on Google sites like care24, Portea, Carinx and other such agencies have their contact pages online. But for places where such services are not available applications like ‘Justdial’ can be used for local search. (The story first appeared in The Times of Bennett, the lab newspaper produced by the first semester students of The Times School of Media .) Join exciting programmes offered by Bennett University

By SURABHI SHAHI PUNE: Jayavarrshini B, an 18-year-old student, has to walk a short distance eve ry day to reach her college. She has both faced and witnessed eve teasing at several instances in her life, and thinks that it’s high time it is considered a serious crime in law. “One day, while going to my college, I saw that two boys on a bike were closely following a group of women. They were passing leud comments at them and making those women extremely uncomfortable. They only stopped when they saw a police car standing nearby,” Jayavarrshini recalled. She added that eve teasing should be treated as a serious crime because it leaves a deep impact on a girl’s or woman’s mind. “Literally, every woman that I have talked to about this issue has faced it. Some have been stalked or stared while many others have been made to feel every uncomfortable in a public place or transport,” Jayavarrshini said. Women safety is one the biggest concerns of our society today. While on one hand there are so many goddesses prayed in the country, on the other there so many women who face harassement every day. The number of cases of violence against women have only increased over the years and they continue to rise. “Women are now working in all kind of professions. While this is a very good thing from the prespective of equal representation in society, it is also one of the causes of increase in violence against women. Previously, women barely left their houses which is why these predators did not get any opportunity to commit crimes,” Jayavarrshini said. On asked about what can be done to ensure women’s safety, Jayavarrshini replied, “Most of the people will say that educate people or and spread awareness, I think that such things are necessary, it is important to take stringent actions against these criminals because in many cases the offender is a well-educated person”. Saanvi Mehta, a 20-year-old student, believes that the first step to solve the problem is to acknowledge the problem. “In many cases, people, including the victims, don’t acknowledge the problem. They simply ignore it and do nothing about it. And those who have the to courage to report the problem are asked to not talk about it for the sake of her and her family’s reputation,” she said. Mehta said that most girls are made to believe that if they do not stay outside their homes in the night and dress ‘decently’, nothing will ever happen to them. “But now I have realised that this is not true. Attacks do happen even during the day. It can happen in public places, at home or even at religious places,” she said. Mehta added that she feels she deserves the freedom of staying out in the night with family or friends without getting worried but, she knows, this will not happen ever. “I can’t ask my parents for this freedom because almost every day there is a case of violence against women. Such incidents scare our parents,” she said pertinently. (The story first appeared in The Times of Bennett, the lab newspaper produced by the first semester students of The Times School of Media .) Join exciting programmes offered by Bennett University

By DIVYANSHI BATRA FARIDABAD : The Covid-19 pandemic has transformed the Indian healthcare system with many people , especially in the metros and other big cities, preferring telemedicine over physically visiting the doctors. “Telemedicine has both its advantages and disadvantages," VK Roy , a neurologist in Metro Hospital , Faridabad, said. Covid-19 is not going away anytime soon, and it’s time that people learn to live with it, say experts. Telemedicine is a safe way of providing consultation to patients as visiting hospitals or clinics can increase the risk of spreading the virus. Roy also thinks that teleconsultations will continue post-pandemic as well. “Now that people know they can consult a doctor sitting at their homes, not having to wait for their appointments or outstation patients not required to travel to other cities, most people will gradually switch to this medium,” Roy said. However, everything has its pros and cons. Telemedicine is not as convenient as it seems to be, checking muscles and joints is not what a layman can do. A lot of times patients fail to describe their problems or symptoms in details, which might lead to a wrong medical prescription. According to Roy, another disadvantage of teleconsultations is that there is no way of physical examinations, which increases the risk of missing out on important information regarding the issue. The pandemic has also given a rise to anxiety and stress among people, which affected their mental health. Telemedicine proved to be a boon for such people. Shonali Mehra, a Covid-19 survivor, shared her experience of teleconsulting a doctor. Mehra was quarantined in her home, so she couldn’t visit a doctor, but through telemedicine she was able to consult a doctor in a safe and convenient way. “Telemedicine helped me fight against coronavirus and recover without facing much difficulties,” Mehra said. “Visiting a psychologist or a therapist is not easy in India but virtual consultation has benefited a lot of people,” Diksha Mehra, a psychologist based in Faridabad, said. A lot of teenagers used this pandemic as an opportunity to approach a therapist since it’s difficult to convince parents in most Indian households. She is, however, of the view that it’s better to visit a psychologist in person as virtually there are a lot of disturbances and people are not able to fully express themselves due to the presence of their family members. Mehra also said that a person having severe issues, such as depression can’t be treated in the same environment. Sleeplessness , anxiety, fear of missing out and post traumatic disorder are issues besides depression that Mehra said she has dealt with the most during this pandemic. Diksha Mehra, a psychologist based in Faridabad. Photo: TOB A therapist according to the needs creates a specific environment for the patient and applies a lot of techniques that helps them express their feelings, which for obvious reasons can’t be done online. One such therapy is psychodynamic therapy. The pandemic changed our lives completely and forced our country to go on the back foot, almost all of our frontline workers are engaged in fighting against the pandemic. It’s almost a year now since the pandemic hit us last year, but it also gave us many new alternatives like telemedicine. Telemedicine is the new normal, an effective way to consult a medical professional without any hassles of going to a clinic. (The story first appeared in The Times of Bennett, the lab newspaper produced by the first semester students of The Times School of Media.) Join exciting programmes offered by Bennett University

By Omji Dubey VADODARA : With the number of cases reducing at a prominent rate in Gujarat , the state government recently reopened theatres, restaurants, malls, and other public places. Soon, the Sports Authority of Gujarat also decided to reopen indoor sports complexes . All these decisions, however, came with a series of rules and regulations. Mahesh Thakkar, an official from Sama Sports Complex in Vadodara, said they have received guidelines from the state government for the systematic reopening of the complexes. “Only certain sports which are taught by government coaches have been made available for the general public. We have had national players coming here and practicing their respective sports before the complex was reopened for the general public,” he added. “Masks and sanitizers have been made compulsory. All the coaches have been asked to submit the list of students of their respective sports so that we have clarity on the number of people. As there are some sports where social distancing cannot be practiced, we regularly keep an eye on players and check if there is any player who has any health issues,” Thakkar said. Devesh, who works as a watchman in the sports complex, has his hands full. He makes sure that everyone sanitizes their hands before entering the complex and maintains a record of every visitor, be it a sportsperson or coach. “Usually there is no crowd in the morning. People start coming after 5 pm. The number of visitors has definitely gone down as only four to five sports have resumed till now. However, we do get visitors, who come here just to enquire about some sports,” he said. All the government-appointed coaches are back on the ground almost after a year. While they have been receiving their salaries regularly from the government, they said they missed the physical training a lot. One of the coaches said, “We have been training the national players online through helping them with their techniques, regular exercising, and providing them dietary plans. “Even if the approach of online teaching is very limited in sports, we have received the same amount of supports from our players during these hard times,” he said. Though everything seems to be alright, private coaches who have rented a place in the sports complex are finding it difficult to come back as one of the guidelines by Special Area Games (SAG) says that there must be at least 10 players to start practicing again. While sports, such as table tennis, badminton, karate, and basketball have had more players, the space rented to private coaches of boxing, chess, and other sports remains vacant. ( This story was first published in The Of Bennett, a student-run initiative of The Times School of Media , Bennett University. ) Join exciting programmes offered by Bennett University

By JANVI BUDHIRAJA PANIPAT : People who go for jogs or walks in Apna Park here owe a debt of gratitude to 62-year-old Dal Singh who has been cleaning up that park for the last five years as a voluntary effort. “Earlier, when I used to walk around the park I would not find any trash but now I can fill up to two trash bags every time I take a round,” he said. Singh wasn’t into cleaning parks when he was living in Punjab , but he got inspired to so when he moved to Haryana and saw how bad the problem was. A majority of the garbage appears to come from people passing through and throwing it out of their car windows. “It’s not the neighbors that do it,” Singh says. “It’s people that are just passing through who throw it all out.” According to him, people tend to feel better about throwing trash in an already dirty area. Every morning, Singh starts off his job of cleaning the park with a trash bag and broom in hand. “It is my mission to make the area a more pleasant space for both visitors and residents,” he said. To achieve this goal, he goes on these walks at least three or four times a month, usually filling up two trash bags each time. Singh said there is more trash now than there was ever before. The residents are concerned about the growing amount of garbage. “After receiving appreciation from the secretary, the next day four people thanked me,” Singh said. The biggest thing the society can do is support Singh’s work by educating their children and teaching them to throw trash only in designated dustbins or, even better, learn how this trash can be recycled. Singh said he has a plan on reducing garbage litters in and near all parks in Panipat. The first step of his plan will have the participation of children and their parents, teaching them not to throw trash in open. The second step is for that same message to be repeated by teachers at schools. Singh also said he would like to see more school projects involving students looking for solutions to the pollution problem. Despite the years catching up on him, Singh plans to continue his work cleaning up the park for as long as he can and that despite the growing amount of garbage, Singh asserted. The story first appeared in The Times of Bennett, the lab newspaper produced by the first semester students of The Times School of Media. Join exciting programmes offered by Bennett University

By SHAMBHAVI UPADHYAY RAIPUR: When children her age were into make-believe games, seven-year-old Siya Tayal decided to work for change . “I grew up in a positive environment where there was never this notion of ‘you will make a change and help others when you are older’. It’s our biggest mistake to make people feel there is an age to do good. In my family, everyone just told me to be good here and now, no matter what the age and that’s how my journey began,” she says. Now 15, she is an active philanthropist and a young leader who has a bunch of non-profit initiatives such as Bee Nifty, an umbrella organization that she formed when she was 8 years old which provides a livelihood to women in rural Haryana by making recyclable bags. “Women constitute about half of the world ’s population and there’s a quote by Greta Thunberg ‘Act like our house is on fire, because it is.’ and it's true in this situation too, women all over the world face difficulties and no opportunity must be left to help them out,” Tayal said. She has recently been working on an initiative called ‘ I am Enough ’ which aims to normalize bodies of all types and spread awareness about body shaming and eating disorders in a creative, inclusive manner. “I will tell you about how all this started. I was on a call with my best friend and she just told me about how body shaming was a daily part of her life, of how she wanted to look a certain way and I realized I felt that too and that made me feel none of us are content with the way we look, thanks to unrealistic standards that the society sets for us. That was when I decided, you know what, I am enough, we all are, just the way we are. That’s how this initiative came about. I would like to think I have grown with this project, in a way where I have learned to love myself and it’s an amazing feeling.” Siya with UN professionals. Photo: TOB Siya has been working with the UN on diverse projects and campaigns. “I don’t just have one side to me, I feel like I am emotional and at the same time, I can be practical too. While body comfort is more of an everyday topic, climate change is slightly more technical, but I feel for both of them equally, and that’s what helps me take varying initiatives. I have had a fulfilling experience with the UN. I have learned so much and talked to and met so many different people,” she said. “Everyone has a bit of ‘I want to change the world’ in them. Everybody wants to save someone. I would just want to say that saving that someone is important and very possible and it’s okay if that someone is you,” she concluded. The story first appeared in The Times of Bennett, the lab newspaper produced by the first semester students of The Times School of Media . Join exciting programmes offered by Bennett University

By Ankita PATNA : People would laugh at you, if you say, ‘I can stick things together without glue.’ But this has happened not in fairy tales but in reality. Meet 36-year-old Michael Grab , an American gravity artist who balances stones without glue by challenging the phenomenon of gravity. Grab has been doing this for years. “It started with an accident, I was hanging out with a friend in the city and we spontaneously started balancing stones on the road. I fell in love with that activity,” Grab said. He began balancing stones as an art form in 2008. “I found it to be a unique and meditative therapy and decided to continue practicing it. Earlier, I used to work as a professional employee in a company. Then, in 2012, I quit the job as my art needed time, effort, and practice. It is a self-learned art through extensive practice over time and now it’s my full-time job even for my earning,” Grab said. The most challenging part is to find the degree of focus required to achieve small contact points in complex structures. Because of that challenge, structures can take anywhere from 10 minutes to several hours to reach the required form. “I prefer to use harder stones for balancing, so the natural edges can withstand the adjustments I need to make to center the mass properly. But for design, I prefer obscure shapes to make structures more interesting. The physical balance works like a camera tripod, where the mass is centered between three tiny contact edges, which can be found in the natural surface texture of the rocks . I never alter the rocks to make the balance. I always use the natural edges as they are, which is also why I prefer harder rocks,” the artist said. Grab got inspiration from his mother’s quilt art. His passion for stone balancing led him to photography and film-making too. “I love to travel for my art,” he says. People may be intrigued by the impossibility of his work but, he says, “it’s not an impossible task. All you need is patience and practice.” Grab never plans his artworks. “I let them rise spontaneously and approach my art in the moment, like a meditative yoga practice,” he said. This story was first published in The Of Bennett, a student-run initiative of The Times School of Media, Bennett University. Join exciting programmes offered by Bennett University

By Rohil Patil NASHIK : “Pollution is a silent menace which endangers our planet, a planet on which, with its finite resources, we humans dwell. But it is us humans who are causing the downfall of our world. We have corrupted our own lifelines and continue to destroy them for our greed. Unless we take a stand now there will be nothing left to save,” says Chandra Kishore Patil , one of the few who has taken such a stand. Patil lives near the banks of Godavari in Nashik, Maharashtra . His fight against water pollution began in 2015 when he noticed a butcher throwing waste viscera over a bridge into the river. Troubled by the stench invading his house, he asked the butcher to stop doing so. The butcher refused and argued that there were others who threw garbage in the river too, would he stop everyone? “His response made me realize how ignorant people are, so I answered ‘yes I will',” Patil recollects. Since that day, for the past five years, with a whistle and a stick, he has stood guard on the river every single day. Early mornings or late nights, any free time he has he dedicates to stopping people from dumping waste in the river. “People behave rudely when stopped,” he said, adding that “they create a scene or threaten me. But, I am joined by other members of my society who support my endeavor,” he said. Patil’s actions were praised by IFS officer Shwetha Boddu who shared his story via her Twitter handle. “I saw this man standing on this road the entire day with a whistle in hand to stop people from throwing Dussehra’s ‘holy waste’ in plastic bags into the Godavari at Nashik. Dear Mr. Patil respect!” reads the post by Boddu, showing an image of Patil next to a mound of plastic bags. The tweet received a lot of support and actress Anushka Sharma retweeted it, spreading the message further. “I will keep doing this till my health permits. I don’t believe I will save the world by myself but I know that, together, the people of this world can,” Patil says with confidence. “My one stand was a rallying point for others to join and start a movement. Now, people take turns guarding the river, and municipality workers come regularly to clean it. All it took was a stand. So everyone must take a stand, a stand for the future and to save our planet,” he said. The story first appeared in The Times of Bennett, the lab newspaper produced by the first semester students of The Times School of Media. Join exciting programmes offered by Bennett University

By Tisya Anand NEW DELHI: Technology has brought in the new trend of online Do It Yourself ( DIY ) courses . These courses have become a centre of attraction during the lockdown. Devika Gujral, owner of House of Illusion, said, “I am based in Dehradun and this ongoing pandemic made it difficult for the students to reach out to me which made me realize the need to launch online classes.” “There were many difficulties in the initial stage. The major one was arrangement and distribution of the kits as they were not easily available in the market. There was lack of man power for distribution,” she said. “The main benefit of online mode is that the videos are recorded for a lifetime which give access to all the students whenever they wish to create projects,” Devika added. She said, “Any course helps in grooming one’s personality it is just one should have passion and zeal for the same and the new online wave has helped the students to pursue their passion without stepping out of their house.” “Creating projects with these kits boosts one’s moral and confidence. This certainly helped some students in launching their own brands. The fees of these courses were kept minimal so that everyone can afford it,” she added. “I have been an active social media user and while people say it just wastes time, it has added so much to my life. I came across an Ad about a DIY course from décor drive at very nominal price,” said Avantika Vinayak. “The course was flexible and convenient but it had some cons too. For her, physical connect and availability of resources was major issue which were resolved with time,” she added. “Do It Yourself (DIY) courses help upgrade your skills and help you learn a lot practically. It is economical, fulfilling and enhances creativity , innovation and communication,” she said. “A new era of DIY course has come as time lapse videos are all over the internet with people creating beautiful products and spaces. These skills add up to our professional as well as life skills which are essential in this competitive world,” said Avantika. “In this lockdown I wanted to explore myself and wanted to follow my passion of redecorating things which also motivated me to enroll myself in a DIY course of making best out of waste,” said Monal Singh . “This course has inculcated a new and critical way of looking at things. For me this course has groomed my personality and has gifted me with a broader and more creative perspective about things and life as well,” Monal added. “This course made me so confident that I made an account on Instagram displaying my creativity. These DIY course work on the holistic development of individual which in turn prepares us to face further challenges in life,” said Monal. “I was very curious to learn new things which inclined my interest towards this DIY course specifically the one where we make wind chimes. This course has helped me in grooming as an individual as well as helped me in improve my concentration skills.” said Shivani Sharma. “This course has boosted my confidence and inspired me to start something of her own in the future. According to me this course help you grow and get better insights about oneself,” said Shivani. “I will be motivating everyone to enroll in these types of course as they make one more focused with being creative,” she added. The story first appeared in The Times of Bennett, the lab newspaper produced by the first semester students of The Times School of Media. Join exciting programmes offered by Bennett University

By JANVI BANDA CHANDIGARH: Government schools, ill equipped with technology, faced an uphill task in conducting online classes necessitated by the COVID-19 pandemic . However, with collective initiative taken by the faculty and management of these schools, a lot of resources and infrastructure issues were taken care of and after a short delay both students and teachers began working online. The school closed down on March 20, 2020 due to the first lockdown and shifted to online teaching . During the first few months, many problems were faced by the faculty and students, both of whom were unfamiliar with the technology. Some students were facing network issues and did not have the necessary gadgets to attend the classes online. Some were facing problems because their parents were working. In a novel initiative, students were provided with smartphones, laptops and books. Added to this, many students did not have the required internet connection required to attend an online class. Some teachers recharged students’ phones on a monthly basis. The Chandigarh administration took an initiative to telecast the 9 th and 10th classes live on the local channel. Proper social distancing is maintained in the school premises. A two-hour window continues to be given for the classes from 4 pm to 6 pm. A lot was done to teach the faculty about the operations of the application, so seminars and weekend sessions were held. Even as the Union Human Resource Development Ministry launched the National Initiative for School Heads and Teachers Holistic Development’ (NISHTHA), to improve learning outcomes at the elementary level, the school reopened on November 2, 2020 as per the Union Territory administration’s guidelines. The Faculty attended the school regularly despite only 9 th and 10 th classes functioning for three hours a day. Masks and pocket sanitizers were made compulsory for students. Their body temperature was taken daily. However, it was left to the parents to decide whether they send their child to school. Online classes are still going on with 25 students attending school physically. Rajni Sharma, a teacher, said: "I and other faculty faced problems while teaching online but it feels good that slowly everything is coming back to normal and proper safety measures are followed in the school". The classroom seating is minimal with one student each on alternate desks. Priya Thakur, a 10 th class student, said that “I was not having a smart phone, and was provided by the teachers, and now that the school has reopened, I am very sincere in attending the classes”. She follows safety guidelines provided by the school and also said the school is properly sanitized after the dispersal. The headmaster monitors precautionary measures. The mid-day meals are not provided but the money of the same is transferred in their parent’s bank accounts. The story first appeared in The Times of Bennett, the lab newspaper produced by the first semester students of The Times School of Media. Join exciting programmes offered by Bennett University

By Nikita Sharma LUCKNOW: Syed Usma Parveen, a patriot who tirelessly dedicates her life to help citizens , has sanitized over 60 temples, 30 mosques , and five churches in Lucknow so far during the pandemic. “I started with temples and sanitized 60 of them. Mosques, gurudwaras , and churches followed suit. The priests stopped me at first because the sanitizing liquid has alcohol but I insisted that in times of pandemic even God would permit that,” she said. Braving community backlash for her revolutionary decision to sanitize places of worship, she continued with her work undaunted and finally won approval. “I was sanitizing a narrow pathway in a colony when some boys taunted me, saying that these jobs were not meant for women. My relatives also criticized me but I put all that aside for the need of the hour,” she said. This COVID-19 warrior gives all the credit for her thinking to her father who, she said, had taught her to put her country above everything else, irrespective of caste or religion. Besides her sanitizing duties, she also made it her business to provide the homeless immigrants, on their way back to their hometowns, with food and other resources. “I asked my friends to help me. We made pulao , packed it in small boxes, and gave it to the labourers. I noticed that their slippers were torn so I bought slippers for as many as I could,” she recalls. Parveen used the funds which she had saved for her children’s higher education for this. “I thought this money can be saved later but right now my fellow citizens needed it more,” she said. Parveen has also been to the Singhu border during the farmer protests and provided meals to the demonstrators. Ask her how she carries such heavy sanitizing equipment on her back and she smiles. “I suffered from backbone problems after carrying a heavy cylinder on my back for months but I did not give up,” she said. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath bestowed her with the honour of ‘Corona Yodha’ for her selfless efforts. Parveen has now become a national celebrity and is often invited to colleges to inspire the youth, especially young women. “The youth of our country should step out and raise their voice against issues that hamper the growth of the society. They are the future of our nation and unless they work for the nation’s betterment nothing will change for the good,” she said. The story first appeared in The Times of Bennett, the lab newspaper produced by the first semester students of The Times School of Media. Join exciting programmes offered by Bennett University

By Yasmin Salaria GREATER NOIDA: Mehul Gehlot, a student and a resident of Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh, always enjoyed video gaming. But, the COVID-19 pandemic, he admits, made him a more avid gamer. “All the big gaming industries like EA, Activision, Ubisoft, Respawn, Konami/Kojima productions saw a spike of 73 per cent during the pandemic as a lot many people were spending most of their time playing games,” Gehlot said. According to the research, the lockdown has highly boosted online gaming and e-sports user engagement resulting in increased profits for the gaming companies. In recent years, competitive or multiplayer games have become more popular than single-player games. “Most people prefer playing Battle Royal and other multiplayer games like Call of Duty : Modern Warfare, Apex Legends and Fortnite rather than single-player games like Last of Us 1 & 2, Days Gone, God of War, Battlefield3/4/5, Sekiro Shadow Die Twice, Death Stranding, Uncharted, Dark Souls, Mario Kart, Life is Strange and Bloodborne,” he explained. Gehlot, however, usually prefers playing single-player games. “My gaming friends are aged between 24 and 30 and all of them live outside India,” he said. Gehlot feels very grateful to have found many friends online, who care about him and constantly check on him with the rising COVID-19 cases in India. “The online gaming had both positive and negative impact on my life. Games like Assassin’s Creed improved my knowledge about history, which was clearly visible in my test results. “Since this game is completely based on major historic events like French Civil War, Roman Invasion in Egypt, Queen Elizabeth’s pirates who stole world wealth, Sir Francis Drake pirates like: Red Beard, Black Beard, female pirates and Caeser and his family. The negative impacts were irregularity in sleeping and eating schedule. “These competitive video games also made me short-tempered, but I am working on these issues, and my sleeping and eating schedule is now better than before,” Gehlot said. Another gamer Asif, who also stays in Greater Noida, said that online gaming is also a very good career option. “It’s a vast industry that is growing and changing rapidly with job opportunities coming up in every sector. You name it and they have it. There are exciting jobs for designers, developers, beta testers, coders, motion assessment and editors, to name just a few. “It’s interesting to note how so many great brains have come together to create something that everyone loves, whatever the age-group” he said, adding that online gaming is here to grow. The story first appeared in The Times of Bennett, the lab newspaper produced by the first semester students of The Times School of Media. Join exciting programmes offered by Bennett University

By PALAK NARULA LUCKNOW: Life is difficult for Jyoti, a 31-year-old maid who has been a victim of domestic violence . She endured years of physical and mental abuse in her village. Jyoti feels women have been largely overlooked and their exploitation continues to be deep rooted in the Indian society. “My village is near Sultanpur in Uttar Pradesh. I grew up in a violent household so when my husband abused me, I endured it and thought it was normal. He would come home drunk and throw away the food if it was not to his liking,” Jyoti recalls. She says that she was deprived of extra care and her essential needs were not fulfilled during the time of her pregnancy. She gave birth to a baby girl which further agitated her husband and he was ready to sell the girl child. Jyoti could not bear this mental and physical abuse , hence, she came to the city with the help of her elder brother. “Most of the women in our village face these issues but we are helpless. Men run the world and women need to adjust in every phase of their lives. That’s how it works,” Jyoti said. Another case in point is Savitri, a 23-year-old woman from Bahraich who became a victim of dowry harassment. At the age of 19, Savitri’s parents fixed her marriage with a 24-year-old man. She wanted to complete her studies but her uncle convinced the family members by saying that the groom’s family was not asking for much dowry and that it is a good proposal. “On the day of the marriage, we fulfilled almost all the demands made by my in-laws but we could not afford to gift them a new bike since my father was already in debt. This angered my to-be father-in-law and he called off the marriage in front of everyone. This was such a huge embarrassment to my family,” she says. Savitri tried to commit suicide but her family saved her and got her married, two years later to a kind man. The government has made provisions and laws to condemn these social practices but in many urban and rural places they still exist. There has not been much improvement in the society relating to the crimes against women. Amanda Seymour of the Humsafar NGO in Lucknow, regularly visits the rural areas of Uttar Pradesh to educate women on domestic violence and how to combat it. She provided them with helpline numbers in case of any predicament. "Women should be empowered and made aware of their rights. Educating men on such issues from an early age is a must as it will help eradicate this patriarchal mindset," she said. The story first appeared in The Times of Bennett, the lab newspaper produced by the first semester students of The Times School of Media. Join exciting programmes offered by Bennett University

By Nalin Kulshreshtha HALDWANI: With the rise of live action movies , comic book sales are declining every day, mainly the comics published in Hindi. “Comic book sales have decreased drastically in the last decade. Before 2010, there was a huge demand for them and the readers used to pre-order the comics that they wanted to read and would buy 5-6 comics in a visit,” says Mohit Tiwari, a bookstall owner near Durga city centre in Dehra Dun. Talking about the reason for the declining interest of people, said: “It can be because the comic books are now available for free download in PDF format that are illegally put on websites. People now don’t really like reading as there are many movies and web shows that are based on comic book characters, which they like watching”. Suresh Newalia, a local book publisher and owner of Aadharshila Publishing, says, “We rarely publish comics now, as the demand is negligible.” Asked about the sale before 2010, he said: “At that time, we were publishing Raj Comics , Diamond Comics and many more Indian comics in Hindi. The demand was so high that we used to run out of stock. But things have changed now.” Manas Negi, an IIT Delhi aspirant and a former comic book enthusiast, said he has long stopped reading comic books. “I was a Raj Comics fan. I stopped reading them not because I didn’t want to but because there were no comic books available in the market.” Aks Gupta, a Class 7th student said he had no knowledge about Indian comic books and their characters. “I've only heard about superheroes like Spiderman and Batman. I don’t know anything about Indian comic book characters,” he added. Chandan Mishra, a retired engineer has fond memories of reading comic books. “I still remember I used to read Tinkle comics which were priced around 50 paise back then. They were full of new information and were very entertaining. Today’s comics are vulgar and overpriced”, he said. “I remember reading Nagraj Comics when they were first introduced. I’ve also read Shaktimaan Comics”, he added. Class 12th student Srishti Tiwari doesn’t like comic books and has never read them.”I am more into Batman and Spiderman, but those too on the big screen,” she said. The early 80s brought up a rich comic book culture in India with introduction of characters like Nagraj, Doga and Shakti. The market saw many players like Manoj comics and others who had to shut down operations. Due to the worsening sales and little funding, the India comic book industry is now on the verge of extinction. The story first appeared in The Times of Bennett, the lab newspaper produced by the first semester students of The Times School of Media. Join exciting programmes offered by Bennett University

By Sharvi Sharma BENGALURU: Rampant spitting makes all precautions against Covid-19 ineffective , as this habit of spitting, intrinsic to Indian culture, continues to transmit various infectious diseases. Beautiful Bengaluru, a voluntary citizens’ initiative, working for clean, green, safe cities (now known as Beautiful Bharat) is driving the # StopIndiaSpitting campaign. It started in March 2020 with a petition and open letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to ‘ Restrict coronavirus and make spitting in public places punishable ’. They raised a red flag that continued spitting was a ‘crucial missing link’ in Covid prevention. Odette Katrak, a Bengaluru-based human resource professional, soft-skills trainer, writer and co-founder of ‘Beautiful Bengaluru’, has worked on behaviour change at an individual level. “In the last 10 years, I realised the importance of change at a societal level, and shifted my focus,” she says. Katrak’s realisation came early in the lockdown while looking at the street beneath her window, noticing people spitting. “We were being told about masks, washing hands but nothing about spitting – a huge gap.” The team’s petition, open letter, social media campaign and media coverage all resulted in bringing this issue into the national spotlight. Spitting in public was made punishable and paan/gutka banned throughout the country on April 15, 2020, under the Ministry of Home Affairs ’ ‘National Directives for Covid-19 Management’ (page 9, points 5&6). Beautiful Bharat’s aim was not just a law against spitting, but to kickstart a movement and eradicate this social ill in a now-or-never chance provided by Covid-19. The law was ‘a backdrop and deterrent’ and the first step of a long journey to get India to stop spitting. This mass movement hinges on every resident getting involved. Awareness about diseases spread through spitting is crucial – as wearing a mask, sanitising and hand hygiene are not enough. Another step was an appeal to the PM to address the issue in his ‘Mann Ki Baat’ address. “This was to ensure the message reached every corner, which happened on April 26, 2020, with the PM’s specific mention making this a national priority, and the crucial message reached millions across the country.” She added that it was Spanish Flu in 1918 that got Western countries to finally address spitting in public places through mass campaigns, and this is a chance India cannot miss. The specific use of ‘StopIndiaSpitting’ as the campaign name is a call-to-action that involves everyone, including non-spitters, rather than focusing only on those who spit. “We are asking all who do not spit to patiently explain the link between saliva and Covid-19, through incident-based or preemptive conversation. Ignoring a spitter won’t help, shouting won’t either. Our aim is not to shame or spark angry exchanges, but to spread realisation. Spitting brings shame to our country – in the UK, spitting is high in Indian-dominated areas. In our country of 1.3 billion citizens, enforcement cannot work; mass awareness is needed as most spitters do not realise the habit is dangerous,” she added. “We ask them instead to use a toilet, carry a small container or just swallow – which they mistakenly believe is bad for health!” “What started as a petition is now a national movement,” Katrak says proudly. Increased messaging through radio/TV shows and a creative collaboration of signs, animated videos, art, music and other resources is helping spread the message to villages, towns, cities. “We are networking through partners across states through the newly formed Alliance to StopIndiaSpitting. Influencers like Puneeth Rajkumar, Kannada film artist, and Dr Devi Shetty, noted cardiologist, are giving crucial support for the campaign. Kempegowda International Airport, Bangalore, has prominent messaging with CEO Hari Marar confirming a reduction in spitting. Katrak ends optimistically, “We hope across the country, more will join #StopIndiaSpitting, because everyone must play their part!” (Access signs in 14 languages + other resources at beautifulbengaluru.org. or mail stopindiaspitting@gmail.com ) The story first appeared in The Times of Bennett, the lab newspaper produced by the first semester students of The Times School of Media. Join exciting programmes offered by Bennett University

By SAKSHI BAGRI GUWAHATI : Most of the time, sexual harassment victims know their attackers. It might be anyone, a friend, teacher, or a relative, however, when the act takes place, it always devastates the victim. An 18-year-old girl from Guwahati, who cannot be named, talks about how it was somebody she knew betrayed her trust when she was 14 years old. She said, “I was at a party and the person tried to first get close to me and when I moved away from him, he grabbed me from behind and touched me inappropriately. She said it still affects her, “It is not easy to let go of a memory where someone who you thought to be a good person tries to touch you inappropriately, making you feel disgusted,” she added. In another case, it was a 12-year-old, who didn’t like the touch of her maths tutor or the things he told her. In spite of her young age, she could still sense that there was something ‘wrong’ about the behaviour of her maths teacher and shared her concern with her parents. The good part was that her parents supported her and fired the math teacher. She said, “My parents had told me about bad touch and good touch, so as soon as I realised what he was doing, I told my parents.” The mother said “Parents need to maintain a relationship with their children where they can talk about anything and talk about these issues.” In yet another instance of abuse , a married woman, who also spoke on condition of anonymity., She told how she felt uncomfortable around a family member when she was newly married into a family 20 years ago. She said, “I did tell my in-laws about the person getting too close to me but they told me to let it go as it was a family member.” She said that she regrets not taking an action at that particular moment and regrets not standing up for herself. She said, “You can’t trust anyone, not even family.” These incidents leave a permanent scar on one’s mind and especially if the person is somebody familiar. The 19-year-old said, “It still affects me as sometimes when I watch people stand up for themselves against their abuser I realise, I was wrong to not take any strict actions at the very moment as I still feel the guilt of not having to do what was right and just letting go of a very dark person.” Sexual harassment is common and the abuser can be anybody, the women mentioned that they regret letting the matter go and not complaining about it. It is also important to teach children about the same, to educate them about sexual harassment. The story first appeared in The Times of Bennett, the lab newspaper produced by the first semester students of The Times School of Media. Join exciting programmes offered by Bennett University

By- Sakshi Bagri GUWAHATI: Body shaming is quite common in schools . Body shaming is common and people at times don’t even realize that the person might get hurt and think that they are just joking. But there are also people who consciously fat-shame other people. Two girls share their experiences of being body shamed. Gauri Rishi, a 19-year-old residing in Delhi , shared her experience of being fat shamed throughout her school life. She was 12 years old when her classmates started commenting on her body and this constant verbal attack about how she looked began affecting her confidence.She was called names such as ‘hathi’, ‘cow’, etc.Because she was overweight, students did not want to befriend her. Though she had a close friend, but he would choose not to talk to her in the presence of other classmates.She said that he was embarrassed of being seen with her. She said, “He didn’t talk to me when others were around, he didn’t want to be seen with me.” Not only peers or classmates can be insensitive to issues of body shaming, even teachers have made remarks on her physical appearance .She also shared an incident where her teacher said to her while she was eating that, “You are not going to lose weight by eating like that.” She didn’t like the comment made by her teacher as she was having a pretty decent meal. She was always stereotyped and people assumed that she could never participate in any kind of sports. Kasturi Mazumdar, 19-year-oldwas called words like ‘moti’, ‘hathi’ and among others and she too was left out of sports or cultural activities because of her weight. She said “I remember being laughed at for dancing on stage or even if I fell down by chance while playing, I remember comments on my facebook posts and I also remember feeling terrible because school and social interaction in general during this time had become a nightmare.” Gauri was able to build her confidence really quickly. Gauri said, “I watched a lot of videos about self love and became confident and I had a goal in mind to prove my classmates wrong, I didn’t let my weight describe myself. I started to like myself.” She went on to give a fitting reply to her bullies by winning awards in football and hockey and proved them wrong. Kasturi talked about how her bullies affected her, she said, “Till date I cannot eat one whole meal without feeling guilty later. No matter how much I try, I cannot surpass the constraints of weight and constantly keep a check on how much I have eaten every day. It has absolutely crushed my confidence but I am hopeful for a better future as I am working on myself and my goals.” Gauri didn’t tell anyone about her bullies at school and found a way to deal with them herself. Kasturi initially did not tell anyone but later gathered the courage to talk about it. “I have had conversations regarding this with multiple people which have ultimately helped me in understanding that not everybody associates a person with their weight completely.” Kasturi added. A psychologist said that body shaming can really affect someone’s confidence. She said, “They may think it’s their fault that they are overweight and may stop eating. There have been many cases like these; it can affect the person’s health.” The story first appeared in The Times of Bennett, the lab newspaper produced by the first semester students of The Times School of Media. Join exciting programmes offered by Bennett University

By-SAKSHI BAGRI GUWAHATI : A nine-year-old boy from Guwahati was blackmailed, bullied, and sexually harassed for two and a half years by his neighbour. He did not dare to talk to anyone about the same. In 2016, a boy, who cannot be named, got caught up in a web designed by his 15-year-old neighbour. It all started with lending his phone to his abuser; via the phone, he sent some videos to his phone to put the survivor in trouble. The nine-year-old was scared and afraid that his family wouldn’t believe him. The abuser started to take advantage of that by asking for money. The survivor thought it would be over soon and stole from his own house. But gradually the demand increased. The blackmailing then turned into bullying; being a neighbour it was easy for the abuser to enter his home when he was alone. The abuser even made him cancel his plans so that he is alone in the house. He sometimes brought friends and they physically abused him. The survivor said, “I now have an addiction because of him. At first, I was forced, but now it is an addiction.” There were incidents when the survivor was forced to strip and the abuser took photos to further blackmail him. The survivor said, “He used to show me videos that I didn’t like. He used to touch me inappropriately at times, I was disgusted and when I retaliated, he posted my naked picture that he had taken, on Instagram.” All this continued for two and a half years. He couldn’t even escape his abuser in school. It just wasn’t about money anymore. He mentioned an incident when the abuser attacked him and he broke his left rib cage and when asked about it he made an excuse to avoid more problems with his abuser. One day the abuser’s stash of money was found on the terrace and finally, the survivor revealed everything to his family and told them about the blackmail but didn’t dare to tell them about the bullying and sexual harassment. The abuser's parents knew about the blackmail and hence were forced to vacate the house. The abuser was even suspended from his school for his actions. “It still hurts as I sometimes see his family,” said the survivor. He said that it affected him as when he finally got rid of his abuser, he became a little aggressive. One can still sense the pain in his voice. A psychologist said “Children are scared to talk to their parents about these issues, they are afraid of how they might react.” She also mentioned that bullies are insecure and hence they bully or harass others to seek attention. She said, “It might also be the case that, the abuser has gone through an incident in the past which hurts him and hence is trying to vent out his frustration on others.”An incident like this can leave a permanent scar on someone’s mind. The takeaway from the counsellor’s interview is that abuse starts at home. No one is born as an abuser. The story first appeared in The Times of Bennett, the lab newspaper produced by the first semester students of The Times School of Media. Join exciting programmes offered by Bennett University

By RASHMI GUPTA NEW DELHI : Nine-year old Khushi stays in Delhi’s Govindpuri and sells flowers near the Kalkaji temple. She is one of the many faces of child labour that populate Delhi. Talking about her work, she said, “I work hard so that we can have a meal a day.” She wakes up at 5 am and helps her mother in household work and then she leaves the house for the temple taking the bunch of flowers. She shared how her life has changed in the past three years. “When I was three years old my father died due to cancer. That’s why I started working at such a young age. We are two members in my family. My mother works in brick factory.” She talked about the challenges she faced during her work, “I would get ill or not feel good while working and wanted to sleep. But I couldn’t sleep. If I would sleep during this business time, so we will not have food.” She further said, “I don’t blame anyone for this because poverty brings us to the situation that we never want to face.” She also said that lockdown has been the toughest phase for her and her mother as due to the pandemic they were not having even single meal of the day. Her mother borrowed some money from others for surviving the pandemic and now as things are getting normal she is working hard to pay back the borrowed money. “Together we earn Rs 3,000 in a month and we spend it on our basic needs.” She also talked about how she controlled her emotions, and she wishes to study. “Child labour has been a curse to my childhood,” she said. The story first appeared in The Times of Bennett, the lab newspaper produced by the first semester students of The Times School of Media. Join exciting programmes offered by Bennett University

By PRATHAM MAHESHWARI NEW DELHI : Animal rescue across the nation saw a spike in adoptions and encourage applications towards the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic. Notwithstanding, attempting to proceed with animal rescue efforts and adoptions has progressively become difficult in the wake of social distancing limitations. Anupam Mehta at the start of Covid-19 pandemic took the challenge to feed the stray. He also encouraged others as well to feed one stray a day as they also have equal rights to live in the society as we humans do. Anupam is a marathoner too and has been feeding and covering 200-300 stray dogs approximately daily. Managing the food expense is one of the most difficult thing for Anupam as he said, “Earlier there were many eateries which used to donate their leftovers but due to the lockdown they had closed down and these animals had nowhere to look towards for food.” Anupam handles the burnout by putting appeals on social media to raise funds. The funds collected are used for feeding all these street animals who have nobody to take care of them. Anupam also quoted Charlie Chaplin, “He who feeds a hungry animal feeds his own soul.” Antibodies and insignificant vet visits have been limited and that compromises salvage activities and the creatures they are attempting to save. “Saving one stray dog will not change the world, but surely for that one dog, the world will change forever,” said Anupam. Anupam one day did three hours of digging to bring out three puppies alive and one dead puppy who were trapped inside a tunnel at an MCD ground in Lajpat Nagar, Delhi , with his friend Neha Thukral. He looks after the vaccination and other medical expenses of the strays. According to Anupam, dogs are one of the most loved species of animals. He added, "We tend to ignore those abandoned or born on the roads. What I am doing it is not some sort of pro-social behaviour but just a humane gesture. Let us all work together to not just help the dogs but all animals." Anupam also claims to have played an integral role in advocating the 'Adopt don't shop' voice. The story first appeared in The Times of Bennett, the lab newspaper produced by the first semester students of The Times School of Media. Join exciting programmes offered by Bennett University

The story first appeared in The Times of Bennett, a student-led newspaper of the Times School of Media By Sahil Kapoor Ahmedabad: In India, cinemas reopened on 15th October, after being shut down for nearly seven months due to the COVID 19 pandemic. Despite the reopening, a lot of uncertainty surrounds the future of cinemas as many movie-theatres are barely surviving. According to trade experts approximately 10-12 percent cinemas in the country have shut down during this period. “I’ve never experienced such a dire situation in my 18 years running this theatre”. Says Rakesh Patel, Director, Wide Angle multiplex, Ahmedabad. “Normally, we need to generate daily revenue of Rs. 2-3 Lakhs for survival. Currently, the revenue is next to nothing. We have to pay salaries to employees, pay electricity bill and download tax, and most importantly property tax. We are losing an average Rs. 35,000 to 40,000 per day”. He says that people continue to fear the virus and it’ll only go once the vaccine arrives. He pointed to two major difficulties and said people will return to theatres once these problems are solved. “The release of new movies is vital for survival. People aren’t interested in watching old movies. We are having talks with the distributors and everyone’s priority is releasing new films...Various big movies releasing on OTT platforms has been damaging”, said Patel. He further said that Government must provide relief in property taxes. Sharing the roadmap to future he said that there is no possibility of making profits till late 2021 but hopes to cut down on losses. “This is only possible with the release of new movies and relaxation in COVID 19. If this does not happen then surely a day will arrive when we will have to close theatres,” he said. Livelihoods of thousands of people working in cinemas have been affected. Gaurav Chawda, a Wide Angle employee said that lockdown months were difficult with meagre income and it is still not sufficient. “The management has promised to pay 50 percent of income lost during lockdown, once normal occupancy returns, but there is still no clarity,” he said. Cinemas across the globe stare towards an uncertain future. A US based firm PrincewaterhouseCoopers has projected a 65.6 percent drop in global cinema revenue in 2020. Hollywood directors Martin Scorsese, James Cameron warned “cinemas might not survive the effect of Pandemic”. Hollywood director Christopher Nolan in his opinion piece in The Washington Post on March 20, 2020, described cinema as an exhibition of community and said- “They are a vital part of social life, providing jobs for many and entertainment for all... Movie theatres have gone dark and will stay that way for a time...Much of this short-term loss is recoverable”. (The writer is a first-year student of BA (Journalism and Mass Communication) of The Times School of Media) Join exciting programmes offered by Bennett University

The story first appeared in The Times of Bennett, a student-led newspaper of the Times School of Media By Varun Kheria MANCHESTER, UK: Vaccines for the COVID-19 virus have started to be rolled out to the public in parts of the world, one of them being the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine that was recently approved by United Kingdom’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA). Alex Thomas, a 21-year-old guy talks about his experience after he got vaccinated. Alex thought that the process of vaccination was handled very well by the UK government, he got a call on the 15th of January and was told that his vaccination had been scheduled a week from then. “From the car park to the door, door to reception, reception to the vaccine room, the vaccine room to the exit. It was really well planned and there was no waiting around”, he said “it was all super-efficient. There was a purpose to every second. Like there was 2 doctors in the vaccine room, one to do the paperwork and the other to read you the generic questions or 'are you allergic to etc...' and give the vaccine.” Though the process of vaccination went really smoothly, the side effects of it were worse than he had anticipated. “The first side effects were typical of vaccines- soreness around the jab site, but a few hours later, I got a headache and chills. Then muscle ache and nausea the next day.” Unfortunately, because of being one of the first to get the vaccine, he doesn’t know anyone else who has had it, so we don't know if anyone is getting the same side effects as him, or to the same degree. India's drug regulator has given the green light to Covishield (the local name for the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine) and Covaxin , made by Bharat Biotech . It would be interesting to see if after seeing the side-effects that the vaccine is having on those who have been given it already, how the plans of its distribution in India will be affected. There is another thing that needs to be kept in mind while delivering the vaccine, taking it once isn’t enough to develop an immunity to COVID . “The government added the rule that people who've had the first dose of the vaccine have to wait up to 12 weeks for their second dose, which goes against the doctor’s recommendations of 3 weeks. I feel like they only care about saying how many people they've vaccinated, rather than how many people now have immunity. But there's not much point in having 50 million people with the first vaccine if those 50 million haven't had the second dose and aren't immune yet” says Alex. This is a critical factor keeping in mind that India has a population of over a billion people and it might mean that the lockdown might have to be enforced until the second dose of the vaccines start rolling out to avoid more deaths from this virus. (The writer is a first-year student of BA (Journalism and Mass Communication) of The Times School of Media) Join exciting programmes offered by Bennett University

The story first appeared in The Times of Bennett, a student-led newspaper of the Times School of Media By Janvi Budhiraja Munish K. Chandela feeds about 50 stray dogs in Panipat , Haryana every day. The 40 year old has been doing that from the starting for this global pandemic ( COVID-19 ) because he can’t bear to see them starve. Munish provides them milk, biscuits, bread, rotis, rusk, and sometimes dry dog food on his way to work. He works as a driver, so when he drives to his job in morning or when he’s going back home in evening, he also feeds any dog that he sees outside. “I feel sad for homeless dogs and want to help them” Munish said. “Especially when I see a lonely dog that does not belong to any pack, probably dumped, which is very common here. I always have food and fresh water with me, so whenever I see a dog, I stop and give it food and water.” “It cost me around Rs. 5000-6000 every month not including emergency cases” Munish added “I have helped find homes for around 10-15 dogs, not including my own 5 dogs.” At last, Munish believes “we should adopt, don’t shop”. COVID-19 has affected both people and animals alike around the world. As physical distancing measures are enacted, more people are staying at home, while restaurants and most markets are closed- both main food source for stray animals. The effect on stray animals is devastating as most are finding increasingly difficult to find food. These challenging times call for urgent measures. Munish is giving dogs a lifeline, by feeding stray animals wherever possible. You can also take a step by feeding stray animals near you. (The writer is a first-year student of BA (Journalism and Mass Communication) of The Times School of Media) Join exciting programmes offered by Bennett University

By Shambhavi Upadhyay Raipur: From Shaktiman to Krishh , India has had its fair share superheroes in the past. But in the recent times there has been an initiative in the Indian cinema to try and create not just conventional but also more believable and everyday superheroes in the form of ‘ Mard ko Dard Nahin Hota ’ (MKDNH) and ‘ Bhavesh Joshi’ . With Rohit Shetty’s ‘Cop Universe’ doing wonders in the box office, there have been talks to work on a superhero cinematic universe based on comic books such as Raj Comics’ Bhediya and Shakti just like Marvel Cinematic Universe. There are a lot of inconsistencies with the way this genre has been tackled so far. Gone are the days when the audience could be satisfied with subpar special effects and plot line. Exposure to international cinema has not just introduced the Indians to a wide range and variety of cinema but has also improved the general quality of the industry with innovations in technology and other aspects such as the narration style. “I think there is a certain element that is expected out of a superhero movie. A thrilling action sequence which is in all honesty practically unimaginable is what makes it unique and enjoyable and that is heavily dependent on CGI. I watched ‘Flying Jatt’, and I felt that the story was quite alright in terms of a superhero movie, but better CGI and better villains would have made it effective and engaging in the true sense,” says Anish Agarwal, an 18-year-old college student, a huge superheroes fan. As a fan, Anish feels that while Indianizing a particular movie is essential to cater to an Indian audience, but the unnecessary songs and dances take a lot away from the seriousness of the plot. “it’s not that we can’t make movies without those, we did that for ‘Baby’,” he says. There is a great potential that lies in the gold mine of India comic literature when it comes to superheroes, from enthralling backstories to engaging super villains. “Talking about the superheroes from our comics like Raj Comics’ ‘Bhediya’, ‘Shakti’, ‘Nagraj’ and ‘Doga’, they have so much potential. Mythological characters would not only appeal to the Indian audiences but also make the plots more believable,” he says. For instance, Shakti derives her power from Goddess Kali, these are some common Gods that could be attributed and made real in an alternate universe which brings all these characters together. Avid comic readers like Shubham Singh, have their own view points about Indian superheroes . He feels that the plot lines though need to be reworked to create a new universe. “I believe the major problem with Indian storylines is, that we create powers according to the situations, comparatively speaking Marvel has always focused on tackling current issues with existing powers. There are upgradations in the same power of course, but a guy whose strength is fire for instance will not suddenly start controlling water too,” says Shubham. Indian superheroes hold a place on their own. However, the fan base is not a huge and Marvel’s superheroes. “While MKDNH and Bhavesh Joshi had a great storyline, I think they lacked in marketing. If that is done right, they would get a much larger audience,” he says. An Indian cinematic superheroes pantheon is something comic fans dream of. They want to see more investment from production companies in this genre so that the Indian superhero can be as big as the Marvel world. Amen to that dream! This story was first published in the The Times of Bennett print edition (February 2021), a student-run initiative of The Times School of Media, Bennett University. (The writer is a first year student of BA (Journalism and Mass Communication) of The Times School of Media) Join exciting programmes offered by Bennett University

By Omji Dubey Vadodara: There has been unrest near the Singhu border in Delhi after the farmers from Punjab and Haryana gathered there to protest the Centre’s farm laws. Farmers are opposing it and are demanding for the repeal of these farm laws. But the farmers from Vadodara have a totally different story. Sailesh, a farmer from Vadodara says he supports the new laws. “I sell my produce in the nearby mandis. I face problems in receiving the payment many a times. But with the implementation of new farm laws , I will be able to sell my produce directly to a company,” he says. He believes though the laws are in interest of the farmers there should be some changes in the laws regarding contract farming and Minimum Support Price policy. He said that subsidy provided by the government is an issue for the farmers in Gujarat and nearby states because most of the subsidy goes to the farmers in Punjab and Haryana. According to a report released by the central government, one-third of the total government subsidies goes to states like Punjab, UP and Andhra Pradesh. “Farmers should also upgrade himself in this hi-tech era which can only be done through education. I cannot sign up for contract farming unless I am totally aware of the terms and conditions. The farmer is being abused by these contactors anyways. They will take the produce and then they ask us to collect payment after two or three days which gradually gets extended up to two-three months. That is something which the government should work on,” Sailesh says. Another farmer, Govind, who owns 5-acres of farmland, says, “Ten days before the produce is ready prices start dropping in the market. But as soon as the farmer sells his produce at such low rates, prices go up immediately. That is how farmers are being cheated by these middlemen and contractors. Therefore, MSP is an important issue for us.” When questioned about the manipulation by middlemen through hoarding, Govind says, “Though many items were removed as essential commodities in this new farm bill, it also states that if there is a shortage then these items can also be brought back into the essential commodities. In the end that will help the farmers.” Another reason why Gujarati farmers support the new laws is the provision of going to court against contracts being broken. “If the situation arises that a farmer is being cheated by the contractor then there are provisions in the farm bill that the farmer can appeal before magistrate,” says Sailesh. “If a farmer is being careful and gets in contract with some big company then that can definitely help farmers not only financially but also psychologically. So that they know their produce will get good price. It will be a lot better than what they are receiving now,” he adds. When asked about the farmers who are protesting against the farm laws, Govind defend his decision to support the law, “Definitely there is some misunderstanding among those farmers regarding this issue. The laws surely need some changes but on in the long term, it benefits the farmers.” This story was first published in the The Times of Bennett print edition (February 2021), a student-run initiative of The Times School of Media, Bennett University. (The writer is a first year student of BA (Journalism and Mass Communication) of The Times School of Media) Join exciting programmes offered by Bennett University

The story first appeared in The Times of Bennett a student-led initiative of the Times School of Media By Shambhavi Upadhyay. The COVID-19 pandemic cornered the entire world into submitting to the importance and necessity of sanitation and hygiene, but long before this people like Vikas Bagaria have been working towards improving the sanitary conditions of many with innovative products and campaigns such as Pee Safe . Pee Safe is a hygiene brand that provides with a wide range of products such as toilet seat sanitizers, organic period and intimate and home hygiene products. “We started Pee Safe in 2013 from a personal experience when my wife and co-founder suffered from Urinary Tract Infection because of using dirty public toilets while travelling. That was when we realized the need for a toilet seat sanitizer spray and how products like these are something we are in dire need of, without being aware of the fact. It is from 2017 that we ventured into female hygiene and intimate hygiene for both men and women with an aim to improve the conditions in the country regarding this issue,” says Bagaria. Feminine hygiene has been a taboo in the country for generations. Although, there has been a change in recent years with the youth talking and discussing such issues to raise awareness and create dialogue. “Our target audience is the Gen Z and the millennials. They want to make a change. They don’t beat around the bush, they are very vocal, bold, upfront and social media friendly about issues like sex, menstruation and intimate hygiene and that is exactly what we need. It is to target these people that we launch various campaigns. In 2019, we launched a campaign called, ‘Own the Red’, where for the first time we depicted the menstrual blood in advertisements as red and not the standard blue. It is absolutely imperative to acknowledge and work on these little things to make bigger changes,” he says. With changing times, the needs of the modern consumer have changed. The youth of the country does not want to shy away and hide behind age old taboos. “It was on the demand of the consumers that we launched our female condoms ‘Domina’. They are the ones who encouraged us by saying that this is something they want to talk about, we worked purely on their demand. I think the time has come when barriers need to be broken. The very reason behind such different ideas behind campaigns and products is that our team consists of extremely young and energetic people. Their average age is around 23-25 and if they are given the freedom to express themselves on social media, they make sure they make every post worth it. All our campaigns are in house and all the credit goes to the creativity of the team,” Bagria added. “The high of sanitation has gone down again after the pandemic. I believe we used to use more sanitizer sitting at home than we do now but the good news is that the pandemic made people concerned about hygiene. I know although awareness regarding feminine hygiene has grown immensely, it will still be some time till it becomes a household topic. Even the budget has given a concession to health and wellness, and anything that emphasis awareness and increases access is a good thing. I am sure it will also boost the sector of feminine health because as long as our women are healthy, our nation will remain healthy,” he said. (The report has been written by Shambhavi Upadhyay , a first year student of BA ( Journalism and Mass Communication) of The Times School of Media) Join exciting programmes offered by Bennett University

The story first appeared in The Times of Bennett a student-led initiative of the Times School of Media By Saanya Borah. Jahnu Barua , the well-known Indian film director, talks about his upcoming film on the Ahom military commander, Lachit Borphukan. The movie will also focus on the famous Battle of Saraighat . It will depict the naval battle fought in 1671 between the Mughal empire and the Ahom kingdom. It’s on how the small number of Ahom soldiers were able to defeat the huge Mughal army and not letting Mughals invade the state. Though in pre-production phase, Barua is looking forward to work on this project. About the film, he said ‘It is important for people to remember our heroes who did everything to protect our homeland from the invaders.’ Coming from a lower middle class family, he had faced financial struggles. He went for his classes during the evening and worked during the day to cover for his expenses. He credits his family for supporting him as much as they could. His interest in films started at a Film Festival organized by the Guwahati Cinema Club while he doing his BSc where he got to see classic international films. He was also inspired by the legendary filmmaker Satyajit Ray, to make movies and tell stories. He felt that it was a very artistic and aesthetic medium of cinema to communicate with the audience. He said, ‘Though cinema looks easy to people, it’s not. It is one of the hardest fields to tell a story.’ All his movies mostly revolve around the aspect of humanity. He brings simplicity in his stories so as to connect with his audience as it is very important to him. He said, ‘Somewhere, there is always a reflection of your life in your stories.’ The audience can find the special touches in his films as he is emotionally involved while making them. Belonging from a village background, he always wanted to share rural stories in which he succeeded when he directed his social genre feature film ‘Halodhia Soraiye Bau Dhaan Khai’ which won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in 1988. He believes that one can learn a lot about life in a village than living in a city. On his views on Assamese films, he believes that though the movies are given importance, they need to reach a wider audience to be recognized. A film becomes popular because of the audience. The number of people watching Assamese films are less while number of people watching other regional films are more. Despite of language differences, movies get attention when their stories touch the hearts of the people. He said that film makers are chasing after commercial movies so much that they have lost the touch of good quality stories. Audience too just like to chase the stars irrespective of the story with spoils the idea of storytelling through movies. He believes that there are many good stories to be found in the rural areas but no one in interested in telling them. Barua has been bestowed the Padma Shri in 2003 and Padma Bhushan in 2015 for his work. He said that he though receiving awards makes him happy, he never prefers to run after them as he believes it will affect his work. He considers himself as a storyteller and focuses on making films but along the way if he does get recognition or awards, they make him feel that he has done something good. His message to the young people who aspire to be directors is to have faith in themselves be prepare as life is full of hard work. ‘You will never get satisfaction if you don’t do hard work. So have faith in yourselves and you will succed.’ (The report has been written by Saanya Borah, a first year student of BA ( Journalism and Mass Communication) of The Times School of Media) Join exciting programmes offered by Bennett University

-By Nikita Sharma Syed Uzma Parveen is a patriot who tirelessly dedicates her life for helping the citizens of her country . She has sanitized more than 60 temples, 30 mosques and 5 churches in Lucknow. Parveen’s father had taught her to put her country and its citizens above everything else no matter which religion they follow or which caste they belong to. During the lockdown when immigrant labours were returning to their respective states, they were in dire need of food and resources. Parveen had provided them with food and slippers, “I asked my friends to help me. We made pulao, packed it in small boxes and gave it to the labours. I noticed that their slippers were torn or damaged so I bought slippers for as many labours as I could.” She used money out of the fund that was supposed to be for her children’s higher education, “I thought this money can be saved later but right now my country needs me.” Parveen noticed growing tensions between the Hindu and Muslim community and decided to sanitize the religious places. “I started with temples, I sanitized 60 of them. Then mosques, gurudwara’s and churches. The priests stopped me at first because the sanitizing liquid has alcohol but I insisted that in times of dire need even God would permit that…I remember when I was sanitizing this narrow pathway in a colony some boys said to me that this is not a women’s job.” Parveen was criticised by her family but she put her country first. She suffered from backbone problems after carrying a heavy cylinder on her back for months but she did not give up. She was awarded ‘Corona Yodha’ by the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh (UP), Yogi Adityanath for her selfless efforts. She also went to Sindhu Border in Delhi and took part in the farmer’s sit-in against the farm bills. She helped them by providing them with meals. “I think the youth of our country should step-up, read the Constitution and raise their voice against issues that concern the public...women should support women that’s how our country will move forward”, said Parveen. She has been invited to many colleges in UP to inspire the youth especially young women to live boldly and be a patriot. This story was first published in the The Times of Bennett print edition (February 2021), a student-run initiative of The Times School of Media, Bennett University. (The writer is a first year student of BA ( Journalism and Mass Communication) of The Times School of Media ) Join exciting programmes offered by Bennett University

The story first appeared in The Times of Bennett a student-led initiative of the Times School of Media By Shambhavi Upadhyay. In an age where children were making make-believe games, 7-year-old Siya Tayal decided to make a change. “I grew up in an extremely positive environment, where there was never a notion of, you will make a change and help others when you are older , that’s our biggest mistake to let them feel like there is an age to do good. Whereas in my family, everyone just told me to be good here and now, no matter what the age and that’s how my journey began,” she says. Now 15, she is an active philanthropist and a young leader who has a bunch of non-profit initiatives such as Bee Nifty , an umbrella organization that she formed when she was 8 years old which provides a livelihood to women in rural Haryana by making recyclable bags. “Women constitute about half of the world’s population and there’s a quote by Greta Thunberg ‘Act like our house is on fire, because it is.’ and its true in this situation too, women all over the world face difficulties and no opportunity must be left to help them out,” Tayal said. She has recently been working on an initiative called ‘I am Enough’ which aims to normalise bodies of all types and spread awareness about body shaming and eating disorders in a creative, inclusive manner. “I will tell you about how all this started. I was on call with my best friend and she just told me about how body shaming was a daily part of her life, of how she wanted to look a certain way and I realized I felt that too and that made me feel none of us are content with the way we look, thanks to unrealistic standards that the society sets for us. That was when I decided, you know what, I am enough, we all are, just the way we are. That’s how this initiative came about. I would like to think I have grown with this project, in a way where I have learnt to love myself and it’s an amazing feeling.” Siya has been working with the United Nations for a long time now on various diverse projects and campaigns, “I don’t just have one side to me, I feel like I am emotional and at the same time I can be practical too, while body comfort is a more everyday topic, climate change is slightly more technical, but I feel for both of them equally, and that’s what helps me take part actively in such varying initiatives. I have had a very different and fulfilling experience working with the UN. I have learned so much and talked to and met so many different people. The best part is that you get to make a change, and I actually am having fun doing it!” She further says, “Everyone has a little bit of ‘I want to change the world’ in them. Everybody feels like they want to save someone. I would just want to say that saving that someone is very important and very possible and it’s okay if that someone is you.” Siya Tayal is an 15 year old young leader and philanthropist who has a bunch of initiatives like 100% Non Profit initiative- Bee Nifty, an initiative which provides income and livelihood to women in rural Haryana by making recyclable bags!. She has spoken at UN, Geneva and she is a youth Ambassador under 1m2030 (a UNITAR and Global Challenges Forum initiative). She has won The India Volunteer Award, Pramerica Bronze Award and has been nominated for Kurt Han Prize 2020. She is the youth speaker for Internet Governance Forum for an event of UNDP. The event was to take place in Poland in the coming November but will now be conducted online. She has also collaborated with UNITAR and is now an educator for sustainable development. At present she is the social media manager and director for Artem NexGen. These are some of the marquee initiatives under this regular school girl's sleeves. (The report has been written by Shambhavi Upadhyay , a first year student of BA ( Journalism and Mass Communication) of The Times School of Media) Join exciting programmes offered by Bennett University

By Priyamvada Tyagi Uri: The banned Jamaat-e-Islami, Kashmir’s largest Islamist organisation, faces a significant pushback from the Indian army both ideologically and politically. The Jamaat, banned under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA), however, continues has got around the draconian provisions of the UAPA, through its charitable work via numerous trusts. 24-year-old Abdul Rehman, a resident of Awantipora, district Pulwama, who owns an apple orchard, and is a follower of the Jamaat, refuted charges of any link with Pakistan. Instead, he told ToB in an interview, that, ‘as an organisation it is involved in a wide range of charitable, welfare and service activities including health care, education, emergency and orphan support. It has provided us with a lot of help.’ Brig. Mukesh Tiwari, commander Chinar Brigade, however rubbishes Rehman’s claims instead, “Jamaat’s modus- operandi involves the use of persuasion, threat, violence and intimidation," he told the Times of Bennett. It is because of the fear of Jamaat, that people in rural areas refuse to cooperate with the government and the army. But it is not a fight the army and the Government can win easily. Much of Jamaat’s charitable work is based on proceeds of ‘Zakat’- an obligation to pay a portion of one’s income mandated by Islamic law- that allows collection of funds for religiously approved charitable works. The Jamaat, during a calamity or death in a family, collects Zakat for the family, and also urges the villagers to contribute liberally to the family”, says 24-year- old Abdul. It provides medical facilities to the poor and needy through Al Huda charitable organisation that has a network of hospitals in various districts. They provide affordable medical facilities and ambulance services. Although these are not state of the art hospitals, they have basic treatment facilities and nominal consultation fees. The Jamaat-run- schools focus on Quranic teachings in Arabic language and are an affordable alternative for parents who cannot afford the prohibitively expensive private schools. According to Rehman, these schools impart low-cost education to the rural folk and women especially in the remote areas and among deprived sections. He underlines the tremendous work done by the Falah-e-Aam Trust founded in 1972 that aims to provide education to Kashmiri Muslims. Presently, the Falah-e-Aam runs 318 schools recognised by J&K State Education Board. This includes 115 High schools, 150 Middle Schools, 53 Elementary Schools. Approximately one lakh students benefit from it. It has teaching staff of 4,200 with 3,780 males and 420 females. The schools provide free admissions to the poor and needy.The staff members and the teachers are expected to follow and spread the ideology of JeI, although they themselves may not necessarily be a member of the Jamaat, says Rehman. But Brigadier Tiwari counters, ‘There are fears that the Jamaat’s overground work is largely a front for gathering intelligence for militant organisations. Those who are seen as cooperating with the army are ‘dealt with stealth and violence,’ says the Brigadier. Brig Tiwari also revealed that Indian Army uses different tactics to deal with the influence of Jamaat. One of the ways is to ‘counter their radical ideology by supporting other sects.’ There are other sects in the Kashmir like the ‘Etkhadis’ and ‘Hanafis’, who abhor this form of radical Islam and have strong belief in Sufism as well as Kashmiriyat.These sects are now being empowered by the army to spread the narrative against Jamaat and divert youth from radical Islam, he adds. But much of the Jamaat’s charitable work has been obfuscated because of its politics- its deep affiliation to Pakistan, its support to various separatist groups and its role in the now defunct Hurriyat. It has also unsuccessfully contested elections twice. This is the fourth time the Jamaat has been banned since independence. This story was first published in the The Times of Bennett print edition (February 2021), a student-run initiative of The Times School of Media, Bennett University. (The writer is a first year student of BA (Journalism and Mass Communication) of The Times School of Media) Join exciting programmes offered by Bennett University

By Ankita PATNA: People would laugh at you, if you say, ‘I can stick things together without any glue.’ It has happened, not only in fairy tales but also in reality. Meet 36-year-old Michael Grab , an American gravity artist who balances stones without glue by challenging the phenomenon of gravity. Grab has been doing this for years. “It started with an accident, I was hanging out with a friend in the city and we spontaneously started balancing stones on the road. I fell in love with that activity,” Grab said. He began balancing stones as an art form in 2008. “I found it like a unique and meditative therapy and decided to continue practice . Earlier, I used to work as a professional employee in a company. Then, in 2012, I quit the job as the art needed times, effort and practice. It is a self-learned art through extensive practice over time and now it’s my full time job even for my earning,” Grab said. The most challenging part is to find a degree of focus required to achieve small contact points in complex structures . Because of that challenge, structures can take anywhere from 10 minutes to several hours to reach the required form. “I prefer to use harder stones for balancing, so the natural edges can withstand the various adjustments I need to make to centre the mass properly. But in terms of design, I prefer obscure shapes and also a variety of shapes to make structures more interesting. The physical balance works like a camera tripod, where the mass is centred between three tiny contact edges, which can be found in the natural surface texture of the rocks. I never alter the rocks to make the balance. I always use the natural edges as they are, which is also why I prefer harder rocks,” the artist said, explaining the process of gravity art. Grab has always been an artist not just an art enthusiast since childhood. His mother’s passion for quilt art inspired him. His passion for stone balancing and nature art also ignited a passion for photography and filmmaking. “I love to travel internationally and do my art along the way,” he said. “Most people are intrigued by the seeming impossibility of the work and also the beauty of the structures in natural setting, I got huge support which also led to the blue tick on my Instagram account,” Grab shared. Grab tells you that it’s not an impossible task. Anyone can do it. “All you need is patience and practice. It is hard to say what I am working on next because I usually don’t plan projects. I let them arise spontaneously and approach my art in the moment, sort of like a meditative yoga practice,” he said. This story was first published in the The Times of Bennett print edition (February 2021), a student-run initiative of The Times School of Media, Bennett University. (The writer is a first year student of BA ( Journalism and Mass Communication) of The Times School of Media ) Join exciting programmes offered by Bennett University

The story first appeared in The Times of Bennett a student-led initiative of the Times School of Media By Yash Yadav. The global slowdown triggered by the pandemic has many dimensions. But a silver lining is now being pointed out by Economists. Economic slowdown also slows down global emissions. This is good for the environment argues, Mohit Srivastava, currently an Economics teacher, at Lucknow’s at G.D Goenka Public School. Srivastava, who has been teaching school children for the last twenty years spoke at length with ToB about the interrelation between pollution and economic growth. “when we talk about economies around the globe be it strong economies like USA or developing economies like India, the building block are same. It is the industries- mainly petroleum.’ Why petroleum mainly you ask? Answer to this simple. ‘Every industry needs some form of fuel for support. Petroleum happens to be the most common. The downside to this is, ‘ It increases the carbon footprint of industries. This is the biggest factor that accounts for increasing pollution”, said Srivastava. The economic slowdown which has been shown by the negative GDP of India set-off alarm bells in the government. This is one of the big reasons why lockdown was lifted. ‘The aim was to get industries started and economy moving.’ “Of course, economic development and increasing population are interrelated. ‘I would say they have a direct relationship with one another, and it is visible over the decades. ‘ Carbon emissions have risen over the year’s due industrialisation. But there is a pattern observed by various economists. Whenever there is an economic crisis the carbon emissions drops’. The best example was the first and second oil crisis in the 1970- 80s, disintegration of USSR, the Asian financial crisis, the Global Financial crisis of 2008 and now the COVID-19 which has led to depression in global economies.” Mohit said. (The report has been written by Yash Yadav, a first year student of BA ( Journalism and Mass Communication) of The Times School of Media) Join exciting programmes offered by Bennett University

Did you know Diwali is celebrated in the morning hours in Tamil Nadu ? First and foremost, it is not Diwali but Deepawali which is celebrated in Tamil Nadu, because Diwali means bankruptcy for them. Though, Bhagwan Ram must have crossed the southern state the first while retuning with Sita and his army on his journey back from Lanka to Ayodhya but Deepawali in south is also associated with a story connected with Krishna and his consort Satyabhama. The day preceding the amavasaya or the no moon day in South India is called “Naraka Chaturdashi” and is the main day of the Deepawali celebrations. It is believed that Lord Krishna and Satyabhama had killed demon Narakasura on this day. A day before the Naraka Chaturdashi a clay pot is smeared with lime, filled with water and religious symbols are drawn on them. This water is used the next day early in the morning before dawn to take oil bath. This is a very important ritual which signifies washing of blood by bathing in oil by Lord Krishna after killing Narkasur. People clean their homes and decorate them with kolam which is made from rice paste or powder and red clay. Everyone wears new clothes kept ready a day before, women adorn their hair with flowers and together the whole family offers prayers before eating sweets and gorging on other Deepawali savories. All this happens even before the sun rises. On the Amavasya night, prayers are offered to Goddess Lakshmi for prosperity and it is expected that she would visit them in the night when all are sleeping. It is said that in earlier days, doors were kept open for the Goddess to come and settle down in the house to ensure wealth & prosperity in every breath of life and generations thereafter. Podcast: Diwali in three different continents https://spark.adobe.com/page/yW36D3omz2ErC/ A Multimedia Project by Mishti Menon

Crackers alone will not cause pollution this Diwali The pandemic has led to an unusual increase in the amount of medical waste generated. India alone generated 18,006 tonnes of biomedical waste since June 2020, says the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) data. The Covid-19 biomedical wastes include used masks, PPE kits, gloves, shoe covers, items soiled with blood, blood bags, needles, and syringes and other such disposable items. Disposable face masks are convenient as they are for single-use only. However, they are made of plastic and since they are being disposed off in large numbers, they are posing a threat to wildlife and habitats. People need to understand why shifting to reusable and sustainable day to day products is necessary. Here is an easy way to reuse diyas this Diwali: How is this related to Diwali? Due to the lockdown, ragpickers are unable to collect the annual household waste during Diwali. Considering the biochemical waste accumulated it is our responsibility to produce a minimum amount of waste by reusing most of it. Doing this will ensure minimum household waste adding up in the environment. Basic lifestyle changes like wearing reusable or cloth masks, using old sarees and dupattas to make table runner, placemats, coasters, etc., Purchasing puja idols of silver, etc instead of PoP to reduce the cost of purchasing every year and being eco - friendly. Another easy way is given down below, check it out! Interesting, what else can be done? If you have found any empty cardboard boxes while cleaning your house, don't throw them away. Wear a pair of gloves, gab a paper cutter and a marker. Now, draw a horizontal line around the box marking the centre. Following this, cut the box on the lines with a cutter. Once you have 2 halves, decorate them and use them as baskets around the house. Tap on the link below to find another fun activity to do. Make air fresheners at home! A multimedia project by Avni Chadha

Diwali is the festival of lights and traditions and a multitude of fun. Speaking of long-standing traditions, a very prominent part of Diwali for the people of Odisha is the Pumpeii . Pumpeii is celebrated on the eve of Diwali with a pious atmosphere. The ritual must be performed before any firecrackers are lit. The first Phuljhari is to be lit by the ritual's fire. The central idea of the ceremony is to bid a happy and fruitful afterlife to the ancestors of a family. It is very similar to the Shradh ceremony held in Hindu families. A remarkable part of the ritual is the burning of Kaunrias, which are stems of jute tree that have been stripped of the fibres. This acts as a metaphorical lamp for the ancestors to be guided to the land of living and bless their descendants. The ceremony carves itself as simplistic and holy for people of Odisha. There are similar rituals for neighbouring states like Bihar, Chhattisgarh etc. The occasion is marked as a new beginning for the ancestors as well as their descendants on earth. The kitchens burst with the aromas coming from an array of sweetmeats and Pithas. A well-known fact is that an Odia festival is never complete without a form of Pitha. People pray for a prosperous and healthy life with the forebears watching over them. Children are encouraged to learn about these traditions and are told about their brave and wise predecessors. Now-a-days, fads from westernization have put a damper on all the traditional rituals as many opt to forego them. But Pumpeii continues to bring light to the hearts of many as a connection to their past traditions and cultures. Below is a podcast that highlights the sentiments of a father and grandfather on Pumpeii and childhood nostalgia. Podcast- Pumpeii : A nostalgia for generations A Multimedia Project by Sulagna Biswal

No big sales for shopkeepers and vendors who bank on the 'festival season'

Here's what my dog has to say about the 'whole virus thing' - or at least this is what I imagine she has to say

False promises, insufficient remuneration, and fear of losing a livelihood are the main reasons why the villagers in Jewar have been seen to oppose the land acquisition and resettlement for the proposed international airport. The categorization of their region as ‘urban’ is another reason why the farmers are annoyed. This categorization makes them eligible for a compensation of two times the circle rate. Whereas, under the Land Acquisition Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013, in the rural region the compensation is four times the circle rate. “They were already not giving us the exact hectares of land we owned. Now they have changed the region to ‘urban’ which further decreases our compensation,” said Bhagwaan Singh , Gram Pradhanpati . He was peeved about getting only half of the covered area one owned. Development for a new life or destruction of the old? “The Prime Minister and the Chief Minister have been harassing us for the past three years. It’s all part of a political agenda. We voted for BJP thinking they will do some good for us but now they have deceived us,” said Virendera Singh, a resident of the village. The unfulfilled promises MLA Dhiran Singh came and addressed the people that if they agree for the Airport construction in their village then many developments will be done by the government and this town will be on the world map. Hospitals, education hub, employment to the people of the village, multinational companies and better infrastructure for the people of the village was also proposed by the government. From 2013 the land rate has not increased. The compensation which was promised to be given to the villagers was fake. They promised to give 5.5 lakh to the member of the family along with the plot. They promised that children above 18 years will get compensation but then this promise was not fulfilled by the government. Villagers of Ruhi have been cheated and now forced to leave the village because of the construction of the Airport. Fighting against the wrong Few farmers of Rohi village filed cases before the Allahabad high court refusing to give their land and seeking higher compensation. The issue of compensation has created a legal controversy as the villagers are being offered a little over twice the circle rate for urban areas. “The government has declared the region as ‘urban’ just so that the Pradhan (Head of the Village) becomes powerless,” said Mahesh, the lawyer representing Rohi village. Virendra Singh , a resident of Rohi village, claimed that he has not been allotted any plot yet as was assured by the administration alongside monetary compensation for the land that was acquired for the airport project. “I feel this is a big political conspiracy as we have been lied to when the officials wanted us to sign the agreement. They had always claimed that fair compensation will be awarded to every villager. But they never explained their eligibility criteria, which has robbed my fellow villagers,” said Virendra Singh. The agreement states that any person is a taxpayer of Rs 3 lakh or above, any government employee or any person who left the village 4 or more years ago is not eligible for the compensation of Rs 5.5 lakhs and a job offer from the nearby industrial region. Rohi Village and its life Podcast by Ashish Singh The Pradhanpati claimed that Rohi village is the most peaceful place when it comes to regional riots. The village has never witnessed any major disasters and every home in the area has sent away a soldier to the border to fight for the country. “The village has not been positively impacted by the airport project,” said Pradhanpati. Rohi village is one of the villages among others where the Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority (YEIDA) is acquiring land for the upcoming Jewar International Airport or Noida Airport. This village has been seen to be impacted the most because the plan proposes that the village has to be raised down and resettled somewhere else. Text by Sakshi Garg, Rishika Singh and Nishita Singh Bundela Photos by Sakshi Garg and Rishika Singh Podcast by Ashish Singh Multimedia Report by Group 4

Located in Dadri, Greater Noida, Primary School Chithera is reshaping its education system in the most innovative way. The school has been able to do so with the help of the SRF Foundation, who are implementing the CSR initiative of Indigo Airlines ’ to improve the condition of schools all over India. The condition of the school a year ago was pitiful. The infrastructure was falling to pieces, toilets and drinking water facilities were defunct, the attendance was low and high-dropout rates were troublesome for the school authorities. Ever since Indigo adopted the school a year ago, things have radically changed for good and today this school acts as a role-model for many government schools. The Infrastructural Changes in the School Welcoming classrooms The students in this school tell a tale of those days when they had to sit in dark, dirty rooms with a leaking roof. Arman, a class 8 th student, joined this school after leaving a well-renowned private school, City Heart Academy. “I left City Heart Academy because the teachers there didn’t emphasize on studies. The teachers there took us to the science lab, made us do nothing and by the end of the practical class were back in classes,” said Arman. He says that Chithera village school allows children to do practical on their own. He has been in this school for one year now. “We didn’t have science lab manuals, microscope or any equipment a year ago but today we have everything and there is a mandatory science lab class every day.” A room full of books A room with shelves full of books. This would probably be the best way to describe the library of Primary School Chithera. What was before a room with no books and leaking roof, is now a well-furnished and well-stocked library. The change is visible with happiness written large across the faces of students who are happy to get new books in their school. The library is stacked with books suitable for all age groups. The shelves are divided according to the reading level of the students. The members of the Reading Club Committee had the keys to the book racks and were responsible for issuing books. Reading level 1 had books for aspiring readers and only had picture books with one or two lines of text on each page. Reading level 2 had books with pictures and three to four lines of text on each page. Similarly, reading level 3 is meant for emergent readers with more complex sentences. Books kept in Reading level 4 section had books with more pages and longer sentences. The last level, reading level 5 was meant for fluent readers with more text, varied topics and challenging vocabulary. “I always liked to read and write. With so many new books here, I spend most of my sitting in the library. I feel really happy reading and wish to continue my studies even after Grade 8,” said Riya Kataria, a class 8th student. “Being a government enterprise, our school faced a lot of hurdles in providing books to the students. Getting books was a little too far-fetched for us, as we only got chalk and brooms from the government. With the help of the SRF Foundation, we have not only provided every student with books but have also established a library of our own,” said Mr. Inderjeet Singh, English teacher of the school. Sense of Entitlement for Students “We have formed Reading Club Committees in our school to inculcate a habit of reading in our students,” said Ms. Rajni Sharma, Principal, Primary School Chithera, Greater Noida. “We have distributed badges to those who enrolled themselves in the Reading Club Committee. This not only gives the members of the club a sense of entitlement but also encourages other students to become a member of the club too,” said Ms. Kusum Rani, Hindi teacher of the school. With better facilities, the school’s enrollment ratio has shot up. We just had 120 students two years back, which has now gone to 390 students, added Ms. Rani. “We are really happy that we finally have a library in our school. I feel good being a member of the club. We are responsible for issuing books to the students and ensuring they read and learn,” said Shawez Malik, member of the Reading Club Committee of the school. Video by Debomitra Das The Changes in Hygiene in the School While both Arman and Shwaez are relatively new to the school, Riya Kataria, 13, and Simran Mewati, 15, are the first-ever students of this school. They said that their parents were losing interest in sending them to school but both the girls somehow managed to study from the last eight years. After the re-development of school, their parents want them to continue their studies and complete their education. “We used to study in boring, dirty and leaking rooms but after the redevelopment, we have almost everything that a private school has,” said Riya Kataria. Agreeing with Riya, Simran Mewati added, “There were no toilet blocks here. It was very embarrassing for us to practice open defecation. The place used to become so dirty that we often used to fall sick. There was no availability of sanitary napkins but today the things are different. We have some really supportive teachers who help us in every way possible. We now have clean and separate toilets for boys and girls. Things have changed for good.” ]]> Text by Harshit Mansukhani and Shivanshi Tomer Photos by Akansha Yadav and Shivanshi Tomer Videos by Harshit Mansukhani and Debomitra Das Podcast by Aditi Tyagi Multimedia Report by Group 1

Dhoom Manikpur Village Primary and Upper-Primary School in Dadri, Greater Noida has become a role model for other schools on many fronts. It is the only school in its neighborhood to have student-friendly facilities which give equal opportunities to all students including specially-abled students. Just over a year ago, an active busy road passed through the school that put the lives of students at risk. Now, with the help of SRF Foundation and support of the community, the school has successfully built a boundary wall to ensure the safety and security of the students. Initially, the community was hesitant to help the school, but today this school has become an epicenter of community learning. Much has changed since the school was renovated and making it one of its kind school in the area which is also open to specially-abled students. Dhoom Manikpur now boasts district level badminton teams, successful Beti Bachao Beti Padhao Abhiyan (BBBP) activities, community teaching, smart classes and almost everything that a private ought to have. Better Toilets- A big boon “ The toilets here were never in a functioning condition. They used to stink and going there used to be a challenge for us. Now, not only the toilets are regularly maintained but are also cleaned every day,” said Priya, a class 8 th student. “My parents were going to strike my name off the school list due to dearth of facilities, but now with so many new facilities I have even enrolled my sister’s name here,” said Pooja, a class 8 th student. “With clean drinking water, functioning toilets and hygienic conditions, the girls are now regular to school. Some of them even have 100% attendance,” said Ms. Shushma Rani, Principal, Primary School Dhoom Manikpur. Workbooks- Learning by Doing The SRF Foundation has provided the students with workbooks of all subjects. These workbooks not only help students practice what they learn in class but also help them in revising on their own. Filled with interactive exercises, these workbooks are the ultimate favourite of students of all ages. “We are provided with new workbooks every month. This has not only helped us revise our lessons but also helps us get a better understanding of things,” said Kiran, Class 8. “I used to hate Mathematics earlier as I never used to understand formulas, but now with workbooks, I can now practice and learn on my own which has made Mathematics my favorite subject,” said Jwala, Class 8. Tracksuits and Sports Shoes- Helping students play better [gallery ids="742,728,724"] SRF Foundation has also provided students from Class 6th to 8th tracksuits and sports shoes to help them engage in different sports activities with ease. These new clothes have brought some genuine smiles which was written large across the face of students. “We got these next track suits last week. We are really happy to get this as we can now play badminton easily which we were not able to in our school uniform,” said Payal, a class 7th student. “We recently got brand new sports shoes to help us play badminton. I make sure I clean the dust off them the moment I reach back home. These shoes are very dear to me as they are my first ever sports shoes," said Supriya, a 6th class student. Playing it the right way- Badminton IndiGo has partnered with Yonex to provide badminton racquets in all schools to help students get the best of amenities. SRF Foundation extends their help of leveling badminton courts and ensuring that all equipments reach the schools. Dhoom Manikpur School is also home to the district level badminton team and players. Their days start with basic exercises followed by practice matches. “Our school never had any kind of sports equipments. Now we not only have our own badminton court but also the best quality badminton racquets. We spend most of our time practicing and getting better at badminton,” said Rukhsar a class 7th student. “We have been assigned a coach specially to train us in the field of badminton. We are no not only getting better in Badminton but are also realizing how much we like playing the sport. We are really happy to get such facilities in a small school like Dhoom Manikpur,” said Durga, a class 7th student. Looking at Future A leaky roof, broken furniture, unpainted walls, stinky washrooms- These descriptions are enough to make you imagine a school with almost nothing to help a student learn and grow. The condition of Primary School Dhoom Manikpur has drastically changed in the past two years with better infrastructure, clean toilets, new books and much more. All the changes have been brought about by the SRF Foundation, who are carrying the CSR initiative of IndiGo to improve the condition of schools all over India. While better school infrastructure has helped ignite the student’s interest of coming to school, the provision of separate toilets has played a big role in increasing the girl student’s attendance ratio. Text by: Shivanshi Tomer & Harshit Mansukhani Photos by: Anurag Kumar & Shivanshi Tomer

Located in a village in Greater Noida, Sadopur School has faced multiple challenges to keep its students interested. Sadopur School also had to ensure that it kept attendance levels up. To help the school as well as the students, an intervention by SRF Foundation and the IndiGo – School Adoption Program paved the way. This intervention brought a few changes to the school which saw student interest levels soar through the roof and attendance in the school also increased drastically. Here’s how Sadopur Government School is keeping its students interested. Bringing life to the Library A very innovative change was introduced to the library in Sadopur School. All the students of the school are divided into five levels, level one consisting of the weakest students and level five the most intelligent ones. The books in the library are also kept according to the levels. If the label says ‘Level one’, books for level one students are kept, where it says ‘Level two’, books for level two students are kept. Books for level one consists of pictures, because level one students cannot read. Level two books consist of pictures and one sentence. Level three books have three or four sentences along with pictures, level four books have paragraphs and level five books have stories. This practice has helped increase the average marks obtained by the students in exams, and the students have started winning prizes in inter-school competitions as well. Also Listen: https://soundcloud.com/lakshay_kumar/podcast Science lab is one of the most defining features The Science Lab is one of the best developments so far at the Government Primary and Middle School at Sadopur. With the help of SRF Foundation, the laboratory has been set catering to the needs of the students. Meenakshi Gupta, who is the science teacher of the school also takes care of the labs and opened up about her love for teaching these kids as they are full of ambitions and dreams. She said, “We are really happy with the lab. Students are always excited to go to the lab now. The manual and journals provided by the SRF Foundation have been a big help for the students. Some of them even come up to us and suggest experiments of their own,” she said. When classroom learning takes a back seat Badminton becomes instant hit Ever since the SRF Foundation constructed a badminton court in the school yard four months ago, more and more students have started attending the school. “An increasing number of students are coming to school daily because they want to play badminton,” said Pawan Kumar , the badminton coach at the school. Over 30 students play badminton on a regular basis, informed Kumar. He added that badminton has resulted in an increased attendance in the mornings as well. Badminton has emerged as a tempting way to get the students to come to school; and the school has doubled down on it as well. All badminton players now get a packet of biscuit after they are done playing. The local community in the village has realised the potential of the sport, which has resulted in the parents of various students also getting involved with the school regarding badminton. The school has organised various competitions for the students and motivated everyone to participate in the sport. 1: Girls playing badminton during the recess. Badminton has been a major source of motivation for students to attend school regularly BALA paintings encourage learning across the board Using a technique called Building As a Learning Aid (BALA), the SRF Foundation has managed to transform the rather bland walls of the school into an educational front. The walls have been painted with eye-catching colours, and as the name suggests, they are being used as learning aids. Each wall painting has information about different elements of the subject. For example, diagrams of the human eye, plant, and animal cells have been vital for teachers while explaining students about the human body, or things around us. 2: These educational painting, also known as BALA paintings, helps students remember important concepts more efficiently. Text by Lakshay Kumar, Kudrat Sandhu, Aditi Giri Photos by Akriti Saraswat and Akshara Nair Videos by Reeti Agarwal and Aditi Giri Podcast by Meghna Pushpam Multimedia Report by Group 2

Every student loves a break from the monotonous classroom studies and enjoy some fun activities during school hours. These clubs are very common in private schools but now the government schools have also initiated club activities so that they help students to develop skills in a particular field, provide them opportunities to participate in different activities and fine-tune their interactions with teachers and peers. The Government school like the pre-secondary and primary school in Bhirondi, Chakrasenpur district, Gautam Budh Nagar is working on these clubs to make learning fun and memorable for the students. Video by Mahima Goyal The school is one of 15 others which have been transformed to ensure quality education for students with limited resources. The project which is a part of Indigo Reach programme is facilitated by the SRF Foundation . The excitement of the new facilities is evident in the playful voices of the students. Greater Noida schools changing the face of rural education Podcast by Manya Kashyap They have four clubs in the school. These are Discipline club, Cleanliness club, Reading club, and the Sports Club. The Discipline club keeps a check on the discipline of students and the school resources so that the students do not destroy the school property. The Cleanliness club mainly focuses on maintaining hygiene and cleanliness in and around the school premises. The students are also required to clean the school premises, labs, and their own utensils. The reading club at the school has been running since the transformation assisted by Indigo Airlines and SRF Foundation. The new library caters to the needs of students on the basis of their reading abilities. The books available have been divided into five Reading Levels starting from simple picture books and advancing to books on science and autobiographies. The library is open to students of both the primary and pre-secondary students. Each class gets the opportunity to visit the library twice a week. Other than the designated days at the library, the books are used during classes if required. “The different reading levels ensure each child is understanding what they are reading. Our aim is to have books for everyone, even those who are just learning to read and write,” said Anamika Yadav, Head of Library. She said that the books are being used as easy learning aids complementing the curriculum books, which gives the students an opportunity to explore and learn new things. Photo by Anukriti Kandpal The students are also enrolled in the Sports club and play cricket, badminton, and chess. The club aims in increasing physical and mental strength. Photo by Anukriti Kandpal “The purpose of inventing these clubs is to promote co-curricular and sports activities among students. It will allow them to engage in activities beyond the classroom and also make learning fun”, said the head in-charge, Mr. Ashok Sharma. He also added, "These kids are happy that they are also a part of these clubs now about which they had heard in private schools". Video by Anurag Kumar Students willingly come to the school daily to learn new things and equally take part in the school activities. Multimedia story by Group 3 Text by Taru Medha and Shreya Chakraborty Videos by Mahima Goyal and Anurag Kumar Photos by Anukriti Kandpal Podcast by Manya Kashyap

Filled with enthusiasm, and uplifting the spirits of the children, the teachers of JHS Junpat Dadri School are the real heroes in the eyes of these children. Jointly supported by Indigo and SRF Foundation , the school has seen a rise in the regularity among the children because of the provision of various facilities and they feel at ease when they urge to learn something more; the school is well groomed in providing practical and theoretical learning. The Arman Module- awareness towards social issues The teacher’s department in the school have specially designed a special curriculum- Arman Module that contains topics and descriptions of activities relating to social issues. Every week, preferably on a Saturday, the teachers organise an indoor or outdoor activity in the school so that the students are educated on the controversial social issues in our societies in a more informative way for the students from classes one to eight. The Sugam Karta a.k.a the teacher divides the students into groups where they are made to act in plays or recite slogans to raise awareness among the students along with their parents and other people in the village. ‘Nasha Mukti’ (drug addiction) and ‘Bal Vivah’ are popular plays among the students. At the beginning, it was a challenge for the teachers to enroll the girls in the school because of the lack of awareness for education among girls. "The teachers had great difficulty in persuading the villagers to send their girls to school. Many were reluctant, as according to them, the girls had to attend to the chores and duties of the house. However, over the years, many girls have taken admission in our school and we are very grateful for that," said Principal Geeta Pathak, JHS Junpat Dadri School. Initially girl's enrollment was an issue The ratio of boys and girls enrolled in the school is almost equal but the girls take long leaves because of some family problems. “On being asked about the reason behind leaves, they reply that their brothers hit them or bully them,” Neha Sharma, the Science teachers said. She added that the girls studying in VII and VIII class didn’t know the difference between a good touch and a bad touch. “Boys used to bully girls all the time by slapping them on their heads and saying mean things. Girls didn’t identify this as a wrong deed. I made them realise that these are the actions to which one should retaliate,” Neha ma'am said. After holding counselling classes and educating them about the same, the attitude of girls has completely changed. They are much more confident and vocal about how they feel. The enrollment of girls has increased especially after SRF’s contribution in the transformation of the school. People think that children can pave the way to their future with the help of hard work of the teachers but in this case the teachers of this government school are being blamed for the failure of the student. Mrs Geeta Pathak, principal of JHS Junat school shared her views on how the media is being biased towards the government teachers and how they feel about that criticism. “Negative baate zyada hoti hai and log zyadatar chatpati baato ko hi padte hai” , Principal said. Judgement is made in the very first place by the media. If one school has made any mistake then the rest of the government schools are also like that. Geeta Pathak gave an example, “if the school starts at 8 sharp and one teacher is late by five minutes and that comes into the notice of the media then according to them all the teachers of that school or other government school comes late and take the students granted.” Podcast on Bala Paintings by Ashish Singh Multimedia story by Group 3, February 11, 2020 Text by Debomitra Das, Mahima Goyal and Rishika Singh Photo Essay by Shreya Chakraborty Podcast by Ashish Singh

Located in remote areas of Ghodi Bachhera, Greater Noida, a primary government school is reshaping its education system to better cater to the needs of the students. With the help of the SRF Foundation and IndiGo Airlines, this CSR initiative to improve the condition of schools all over India is impacting many students. A year ago, the condition of the school was very sad as the infrastructure was falling to pieces, toilets and drinking water facilities were defunct and the attendance was low. Kids shifting from private schools to govt schools in UP By Sakshi Garg Located in Ghodi Bachera , a small village in Greater Noida, the Upper Primary School (UPS) saw a massive upgrade in its infrastructure and the way of imparting knowledge. The development in the school, earlier known as the Junior High School, led to a few students leaving private schools to join this government-run school. “Some of our students used to study in private schools, they came to this school as their parents saw the potential in the school as soon as the infrastructure of the school was revitalized,” said one of the three school principals, Kusum Lata. “We never expected a shift like this.” The school was repaired and repainted along with the construction of necessary amenities such as drinking water facilities, library, and science laboratory. This infrastructure development took place when IndiGo adopted the school as a part of its CSR initiative to let children enjoy the journey of learning. There are over five students who changed their schools. One of them is Deepanshi, the current head of the Reading Club of the school. She said, “I like this school better than my previous one. Before, I was not able to explore my interests as there were not many activities in the school and we were given a lot of home works.” Answering what is the best part of UPS, she said, “Everybody gets the opportunity to be a leader. Today I am leading the Reading Club and learning the art of being a leader, in another month or so, somebody else will get the same opportunity.” She added, “This school gives every child a fair fighting chance.” Education is among the other areas of focus undertaken at IndiGo; the airline has impacted the lives of more than 30,000 children since 2015. The program is aimed at the integrated progression of adopted government schools across India. Podcast on the journey through the school by Muskan Babuta The new renovated schools have more facilities to cater to the needs of students in the remote areas of Uttar Pradesh. One such facility is the equipment to play. By Ashish Singh Academically weak students at UP govt school get ‘ Shaala Mitra ’ By Sakshi Garg Government schools across the national capital have been seen to have remedial classes for the weak students to bridge the gap in their learning levels. But the same kind of help was not always available in the remote corners of Greater Noida. As a part of developing for the better for the students struggling academically, Upper Primary School (UPS) in Ghodi Bacheri has offered help to the students who need it. “Under the IndiGo ‘Adopt a School’ Initiative, the school was able to organize remedial classes,” said Promod Kumar, Principal. ‘Shaala Mitra’ is a temporary teaching staff who is hired from the community and is trained by IndiGo Reach to help the students while having fun. “No student should lag behind their friends. It can lower their self-confidence. Shaala Mitra is designed to beat that in a learning-by-playing program,” said Sangita, IndiGo appointed Shaala Mitra for UPS. “These classes are for the students who are weak in Maths, Hindi, and English.” There are 20 students in one batch totaling up to 40 students as Sangita teaches 2 batches, one before lunch and one after. Generally, the students are from classes third to seventh. These are the students who are seen to have diverted their attention. Learning-while-playing is not a very new method. But the students seem to enjoy their classes. The students are unaware of the fact that they are attending remedial classes. They think that they are getting to play on the pretext of learning. The remedial classes involve clearing the basics of a student who is not able to well academically. Once a student clears a baseline evaluation, he/she is sent back to the regular class. This is seen to be practiced across Delhi but in Ghodi Bacheri it is still a new practice. By Ashish Singh Schools use Meena Manch to talk about menstrual hygiene By Sakshi Garg Menstrual Hygiene management and sex education has been recently emphasized a lot. From different hashtags like #PeriodPaath, #BreakTheBloodyTaboo and #RightToPeriod trending on Twitter to many non-governmental organizations helping in educating a child about good touch and bad touch. But reaching the smaller sections of remote villages still remains the end goal. Some recent efforts have been made by Super School India and Smile Foundation towards talking about the issue of menstrual hygiene management to remote villages as well as to schools catering to children from weaker sections. Similar knowledge of menstrual hygiene and sex education reached the Upper Primary School, Ghodi Bachera, Greater Noida. The teachers have used the concept of ‘Meena Manch’, inspired by the UNICEF animation series called ‘Meena’. Meena Manch is a forum of schoolgirls who promote the values and rights of the girl child. The school has the Meena Manch for meeting adolescent girls and improving their consciousness about menstrual hygiene management. Many drawings and chart making activities are conducted as a part of this program. “We start talking about menstruation to the kids when they are in class six,” said Kanika Singh, UPS teacher. She also said that there are no separate classes for girls to talk about menstrual hygiene management and sex education. The dissemination of knowledge is the same for boys and girls. Deepanshi, student of class seven, said, “We are aware of this issue because of Meena Manch. We have learned about many different societal and political issues in these sessions.” The forum of Meena Manch has helped a number of students after the special efforts taken by the school teachers in activating and shaping the forum. Lets dive deep into the lives of the students who study in this school in Uttar Pradesh. Partial blindness can’t keep this 8-year-old from being the class topper By Nishita Singh Bundela Partially blind, Varsha Uapdhyay of class four at the Ghodi Bacheda Government School is not only the class topper but, also the only special child in the whole school. On being asked what makes her so determined to study, Varsha replied, “I like studying, my parents and teachers help me out a lot. Even I want to help everyone around me so, I study to become a teacher when I grow up.” Varsha attends the UPS Ghodi Bacheda School, a primary government school which is being developed as a model school under the guidance of SRF Foundation with funding from the Indigo Airlines as a part of its CSR. The SRF foundation is a non-profit organization which extends help to companies CSR activities mainly through providing education to the society. “Varsha is a very determined child, she always tops the class. We believe she is an extremely talented kid and try to help her in every possible way that we can,” replied Kusum Lata, Principal of the School. Upon being asked if she has ever been bullied in school, Varsha replied saying, “No, no one has ever made fun of me in fact, I am friends with everyone. I also have a best friend who helps me out a lot, her name is Diksha. We are inseparable.” The SRF foundation has also played a great role in improving the quality of education not just for Varsha but every student in the school. Through SRF, the school has been equipped with a library, a science Lab, playground equipments, drinking water tanks, work books, green board and wall paintings. The Foundation has assigned a counselor in the form of ‘Shala-mitras’ in order to help the academically weak students to improve, without being pointed at. “The foundation has given us a work book for such kids called ‘Khel Khel mai Shiksha,’ where we try to teach the kids through innovative activities and games,” said Sangeeta, an SRF assigned Shala-mitra. The UPS Ghodi Bacheda School is one of the three government schools being developed by the SRF Foundation through Indigo Airlines funding in Greater Noida. Text by Sakshi Garg and Nishita Singh Bundela Photos by Nishita Singh Bundela Videos by Ashish Singh Podcast by Muskan Babuta Multimedia Report by Group 4