NATIONAL
YOUNG SOCIOLOGIST COMPETITION 2015-16
“To deny people
their human rights is to challenge their very humanity.”
-
Nelson Mandela
Based on the theme of Human Rights,
the National Young Sociologist Competition 2015-16 was organized by the
Department of Sociology, Christ University, Bangalore. It was held on December
10, 2015 which is celebrated as Human Rights Day all over the world to honour
the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the UN General
Assembly in 1948. This was a national level competition where undergraduate
students of Sociology across India were invited to send an abstract of their
research paper. Out of all the abstracts that were sent, 10 were selected for
the final paper presentation.
The event started with a warm
welcome speech by Dr. Sudhansubala Sahu, Young Sociologist Competition
Coordinator and an introduction of the judges – Dr. Kshitij Urs, Dr. K. G. Uma
and Dr. Sobin George. This was followed by an introductory speech by Dr. John
Joseph Kennedy-Dean, Humanities and Social Sciences, that stressed
on the importance of the protection of human rights in today’s world.
Dr. Kshitij highlighted the
importance of critical thinking through his speech. As participants in
democracy, we shouldn’t take anything the way it is given to us. Asking
questions is absolutely necessary. He ended his speech by stating the idiom:
birds which are born in cages feel that flying is an illness, meaning the State
keeps us in boxes and shapes the way we think. We have to learn to come out of
these boxes and think differently.
Professor Suparna Kar proposed the
vote of thanks and with this the inaugural session came to an end.
This was followed by paper
presentations by the participants. Each participant was given 10 minutes for
presentation and 5 minutes for discussion. They were expected to identify
different human rights as specified by the universal declaration; carry out an
original research to understand how human rights are violated in the local
context and then identify agencies or organizations who are working towards
their protection. Under the broad theme of Human Rights, various sub-themes
were included:
·
Right to Life Liberty and
Security
·
Right to Freedom of Opinion
and Expression
·
Right to Own Property
·
Right to Work and Right to
Equal Pay for Equal Work
·
Right to Education
Several interesting papers were presented – Child Labour in
Hazardous Industries, Human Rights Violation among the Tribal Women of Attapadi,
(Not) Hiring Hijras: A qualitative study of the right to work being violated,
Sustainable Education, Right to Life, Liberty and Security in Live-In
Relationships, Right to Work and Equal Pay for Equal Work, etc.
Among these, the first
position was secured by Atreya Arun of Christ University. His paper titled
Pretrial Detentions in India: An executive and judicial failure in the
upholding of human rights looked at the plight of pretrial or undertrial
detainees who are held for excessively long time periods. This denies them
basic human rights and although there are certain laws that have been enacted,
they are not implemented and maintained due to inefficiencies in the judiciary
and executive. Using the case of Dantewada district jail in Chhattisgarh, the
paper tells us that the situation can be improved by adhering to the basic laws
of the Indian Constitution and rethinking the legal process to make it more
egalitarian.
Gopika C. R. of B.C.B.
College, Kottayam won the second prize for her paper titled A Sociological
Analysis of Awareness of Human Rights Violation among Transgenders in Kerala.
The findings of the paper revealed that 96% of the transgender community was
aware of their rights. They faced a violation of the Right to Life, alienation
from social life and no access to employment opportunities. Public awareness,
proper implementation of laws, publication of books and reports about the
transgender community at the regional level could bring some improvement in the
current situation.
The third position was secured by Varsha Iyer of Jyothi Nivas
College, Bangalore for her paper titled (Not) Hiring Hijras: A Qualitative
Study of the Right to Work Being Violated. It was a qualitative study that
analyzed socio-cultural identity and employment opportunities for the Hijra
community.
The prize distribution
was done by the judges – Dr. K. G. Uma and Dr. Sobin George and the vote of
thanks was offered which brought the even to an end. The audience benefitted
from the large wealth of knowledge presented to them, making the event a grand success.
Dr Healatha K, an expert on the area of development induced displacement delivered a lecture for the students of MA Applied Sociology on January 28, 2016. This highly informative and engaging talk enabled the students to gain immensely from her hands on experience on the area of Development Induced Displacement and Resettlement in the state of Karnataka primarily as a result of the building of large dams. This lecture bridged the gap that is often perceived between academic research and the classroom.