Hi there, 

I will try making this as short as possible. This mail includes two suggestions and one statement. 

1) Hafta, Charcha, Reporters and Newsance—each have between 5-6 news items which would be 20-25, 2-5 min discussions. Break it and make it into 25 links and call it the “Weeks Laundry” with a snapshot headline for each link. And this should be subscribers only!

2) Make a list of all the #MeToo allegations and ask us subscribers for Top 20 and go ahead and do an investigation. ₹500-1000 per person, NL Sena Project. Needs to be done in the next two weeks. Again, subscribers only. Personally, I believe you should start with Saloni Chopra.

3) I am not being male chauvinistic, patriarchal or misogynistic. In all this, we have never bothered to have a discussion on what the MALE thinks. The Male Psyche, Abhinandan, please be objective to understand why I am saying that. Okay, to make my point clearer, look at the heroes in most South Indian (mostly Kannada or Telugu) movies or Bhojpuri movies. 

Hopefully, I am within your word limit. 

Best Regards, 

Dhiraj

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Dear Hafta team,

In response to the discussion on “#MeToo movement and also the recommended reading by Abhinandan, regarding state policing of individuals, I would like to make some comments.

There exists a problem of sexual harassment in our societies be it our streets, homes, or workplaces. Women have been living with this reality for ages and finding ways to deal with it. Some are successful, some withdraw from the place, and some end up as victims. They have tried various means of addressing this within the system for a very long time and the system has repeatedly failed them. The intelligentsia, the people in power, be it men or women, the government, the media, the courts, and the human resources departments have repeatedly and institutionally failed them; thus enabling the predators. They are collaborators in the eyes of the women.

Regarding the state policing of individuals in China being supported by large swathes of the population, there seems to be similar apathy from the gatekeepers of the society.

If tomorrow an ordinance were to be introduced in India that any government official living beyond their means would be publicly humiliated on billboards, their luxury vacations will not be booked, they wouldn’t be allowed any access to banking and so on, you would be surprised how many Indians would vote for such intrusive monitoring.

In other words, when there is a systemic failure over an extended period of time people do not hesitate in gaslighting the system itself. My limited point is that when institutions fail to do their mandated work it creates space in societies for “burn it all” movements and authoritarian regimes. It has been proved over and over in history.  

Shipra Garg

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Hello,

This is in response to repeated letters on asking for a balance on your panel to avoid sounding like a Leftist mouthpiece. You need to look no further than Rahul Kotiyal. He is not really a Right-winger, but from his views and the way he puts it in Charcha (most noticeably in episode 41), he really brings a very balanced view to any topic, instead of blindly bashing one side and eulogising the opposite one.

Him, along with Mr Vardhan, will give enough counterbalance to your general Leftist rant. Think about it.

Rahul