🔆 Manifest Voice 🔆

Do you ever feel that you need to compromise often
Do you agree because you are afraid others won't like your views

Most of the stress that we experience
Is because we could not raise our voices when we had to

It may happen to us on a regular basis
It may be taking place implicitly, without us realizing it

At home, in our workplace, with friends
We are afraid to tell people what we actually feel

We suppress our thoughts, emotions
It doesn't make much of a difference then

But with time, all of this may accumulate
And one day explode in unimaginable forms

Do not crumble under pressure
Break free from the bonds that intimidate you

Stand up for yourself today, assert yourself
Change what you must, let go, if need be

Learn to express yourself, ruminate, scribble
Organize your thinking in written form

Gradually you will be able to articulate
You will not hesitate when you take part in a discussion

As they say, practice makes a man perfect
What better way to prepare for speech than to write it out first

Write daily, write today, anything abstract
Do not fear what others may think, take the first step

Is it worth all the trouble, you may ask
Yes it is, your mind will be richly nourished, you will be empowered

~M 💛
#MEANDERINGS
@MeanderingMaven

🔵 Durgabai Deshmukh: A Legacy Beyond Time

🔆 My journey as a reader, writer and a speaker. ❤️

~E 💛

🔵 Inquiring the Un-touch-able : Touch Unable versus Not-Touchable | Economic and Political Weekly

https://www.epw.in/engage/article/inquiring-untouchable

#Untouchability

Good Morning 🌞

🔵 Dowry is still a dream-killer in Kerala - The Hindu

https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/kerala/dowry-is-still-a-dream-killer/article67637838.ece

❌ Trigger Warning: the following article contains references to suicide. Please avoid reading if you feel distressed by the subject.

🔵 Minor domestic worker held captive in Gurugram | The seamy side of India’s millennium city - The Hindu

https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/minor-domestic-worker-held-captive-in-gurugram-the-seamy-side-of-indias-millennium-city/article67637814.ece

Working at a household for about a decade, Salma says she was not paid “enough” and often made to put in extra hours of work without any additional payment. It was difficult for her to find another job in the same township if she quit. “Madam will give me a bad name, spreading rumours about me among other residents on WhatsApp groups. Madam log sab WhatsApp per jude hue hai. Agar koi kaam chhodta hai to fir usko koi aur nahi leta (All employers are connected through WhatsApp groups. If someone quits a job, no one hires her),” she says.

#Domestic_Labour

🔵 New cyber threats catch India’s IT capital, Bengaluru, unawares - The Hindu

https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/bangalore/cyber-threats-throw-an-it-city-into-chaos/article67636818.ece

Changing nature of cyber threats 

“A person sitting somewhere, hiding behind the anonymity that VPNs provide, took just a few minutes to send the IT capital of India, a city of nearly 14 million and a growth engine of the country, into a tizzy. It is pretty low-tech. This is the best illustration of how asymmetric cyber threats are,” said a senior police official with considerable experience in fighting cybercrime.

If a hoax bomb threat can send an entire city into a tailspin, imagine what can happen if a city’s power grid is hacked and shut down as a result. That’s precisely what happened in Mumbai on October 13, 2020. A cyber attack on the city’s power grid brought the country’s financial capital to a halt for nearly half a day. The famed local trains stopped, and the stock exchange shut down, even as hospitals struggled to keep ventilators running. The attack was reportedly traced to state actors in China, reported The New York Times in February 2021, a claim acknowledged by Ministers in the government of Maharashtra. India and China relations were tense in October 2020 over the Galwan Valley clash.

Several key cyber attacks were reported on critical information infrastructure in India in recent years: on the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant in 2019, on Goa’s flood monitoring system in 2020, ransomware attacks on nationally important institutions like New Delhi-based All India Institute of Medical Sciences and Bengaluru-based National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences in 2022. The Karnataka State Data Centre, the information nerve centre of the Government of Karnataka, fell prey to the WannaCry ransomware attack in 2017.

#Cyber_Crime #Technology #Challenges

🔵 ‘Authenticity’ in a post-authentic world - The Hindu

https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/authenticity-in-a-post-authentic-world/article67639042.ece

‘Infocalypse’ is imminent

According to AI scientist Nina Schick,

“Infocalypse”, the biggest information and communications crisis in world history, is imminent. Further, the boundary between mainstream and social media is getting blurred.

For instance, in October, the fake news of Amartya Sen’s passing swept the media, originating with a post on social media.

Have we slipped down the rabbit hole of AI and social media and into the era of post-authenticity? “Trust,” however, is the biggest casualty in effect. In his 2021 book of the same name, journalist Michael Grothaus described how society is transforming into a place where we would “Trust No One”.

Today, anyone may cast a doubt on anything by just publicly doubting its authenticity, regardless of how real it is. It helps the bad actors; in 2018, American law professors Bobby Chesney and Danielle Citron popularised the phrase “liar’s dividend”. The greatest risk to mankind is that we might soon cease to take anything at face value.

Because of AI’s presumed ability to create seemingly convincing text and data, researchers and journal editors are becoming increasingly concerned about integrity. Allegations of falsified or wrong data on various topics important to the common people, such as GDP, employment, inflation, and COVID-19-related statistics, frequently rock different societies. With the AI boom, the falsification of data and text could evolve into a new realm in this post-authentic age.

#AI #Technology #Misuse #Social_Media

🔴 Only 16 days remaining.

It's time for a transition.

It's time for a change.

If you haven't started studies yet, please begin.

Good Morning 🌞

🔵 50% of India’s children don’t have access to quality education after primary school: development economist Amir Ullah Khan - The Hindu

https://www.thehindu.com/education/50-of-indias-children-dont-have-access-to-quality-education-after-primary-school-development-economist-amir-ullah-khan/article67641574.ece

Socio-economic conditions of the underprivileged are such that several members of a family live in a single room without proper access to utilities; this makes getting an education a challenge for them.

#Education #Underprivileged

✅RELEVANCE: Paper - 2, Section - C : Disparities in education

Rishi Sunak Considers Social Media Ban For Under-16s In UK: Report
Read more at: https://dbrief.news/d/F0upe

What is your opinion on social media ban for under-16s?

🔵 Assam to introduce bill to ban polygamy in February 2024- The New Indian Express

https://www.newindianexpress.com/nation/2023/dec/16/assam-to-introduce-bill-to-ban-polygamy-in-february-2024-2642116.html

#Marriage

🔵 How a virtual dissection table can help medical students

https://www.thehindu.com/education/how-a-virtual-dissection-table-can-help-medical-students/article67628731.ece

The medical landscape is evolving rapidly, with technologies like telemedicine, augmented reality (AR), and virtual reality (VR) becoming integral parts of healthcare. The virtual dissection table prepares medical students for this technologically advanced future by familiarising them with these tools. The ability to provide risk-free, comprehensive, and interactive learning experiences could make it an asset for modern medical study.

#Education #Medicine #Technology

🔆 FOOD FOR THOUGHT 🔆

Have you ever been unemployed? If so how did it make you feel? What social and psychological effects might unemployment have on the traditional 'breadwinners' - men and on the traditional 'housewives' - women? Given that many more women are also now in paid work, is high unemployment potentially a more disruptive social problem today than in the past?

#FoodForThought

Good Morning 🌞

🔆 Giving up is easy 🔆

🔵 Sex determination racket | IMA’s State unit extends support to government in detecting, probing malpractices; demands inclusion in task force - The Hindu

https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/karnataka/sex-determination-racket-imas-state-unit-extends-support-to-government-in-detecting-probing-malpractices-demands-inclusion-in-task-force/article67644742.ece

Mere strict laws cannot prevent female foeticide. We all have to create an environment where women are respected by informing everyone about the fact that men and women are equal. There is a need to create awareness in this direction. We urge the government to implement a stringent law that will punish the parents, relatives and agents who come asking for sex detection,

#Female_Foeticide

The report ‘Ride Hailing — A Platform for Women’s Economic Opportunity in India’ projects the impact that ride-hailing apps can have in boosting the economy through their empowerment of women.

Read here