A COVID-19 Tracker for Jammu & Kashmir

Published by Cafe dissensus

Link: https://cafedissensusblog.com/2020/04/19/a-covid-19-tracker-for-jammu-kashmir/

By Ishfaq Majid & Shazia Kouser

While the world continues to grapple with the coronavirus, many web developers have come forward to provide reliable information to stop the spread of misinformation through various Social Media Platforms. These web developers have developed COVID-19 web portals for their respective states. In some states, even the government has come up with such web portals.

Like their counterparts in other states and regions, the web developers in Kashmir have started a web portal (https://covidkashmir.org). The web portal has been developed by Mudasir Ali, Haider Ali Punjabi and Syed Vikas Bukhari. Mudasir, a freelance web developer since 2012, recently completed MCA from the University of Kashmir. He is known for KashmirGetOnline, a campaign to encourage professionals to own a digital space (online portfolios) and to get small scale businesses in Kashmir online for a very low cost. The second developer in the group, Haider, is currently pursuing IMCA from the Government College for Women, M.A. Road, Srinagar. Haider has developed multiple Android and Web Applications, and is an avid contributor to the Open Source Community. The third developer Vikas is pursuing B.Tech. in Computer Science and Engineering at Baba Ghulam Shah Badshah University, Rajouri. He represented J&K at India Skills North 2018 in Web Design and Development.

The initiative to develop the website came up on 24 March, when the three developers were interacting with each other on the popular social media platform Twitter to start the web portal. On 25 March, the developers sought suggestions with regard to the various features of the website. The website is completely non-profit and independent. The developers do not collect any donations and all the technological costs are covered by the contributing developers.

The main interface of the website is quite simple which comes with various interesting features. The Statistics feature on the portal shows the total number of cases, along with number of recovered, active and deaths. The Sample Statistics feature is updated based on the data from the official Media Bulletin. The Sample Statistics feature shows the total number of collected samples, along with the percentage of positive and negative samples. The web portal has Active Cases Heat Map where district-wise data is available. Selecting a particular district on the Heat Map shows the number of active, recovered and deaths. In addition to these features, the interface of the portal is equipped with Twitter feed which display Tweets from the government sources, media houses and journalists.

The portal has a well-maintained Home Delivery Store list which currently covers the areas of Srinagar city. The list covers 24 Home Delivery Stores along with 06 medical shops. Regarding the other districts, Mudasir says that the list contains the stores of Srinagar District only because they don’t have any input yet about other districts.

The portal has a dedicated tab of important numbers and On-call GMC Consultants. Under the important numbers, the developers have maintained some emergency numbers like the J&K COVID-19 Helpline (UT), J&K COVID-19 Helpline (Jammu and Srinagar), SMHS Hospital, CD Hospital and many others as well. The On-call GMC Consultants is updated as per the On-call Duty Roster provided by the GMC Srinagar.

The website has a dedicated tab for Government Statistics where the surveillance statistics have been shown. The tab shows the Persons Enlisted for Observation, Quarantine, Hospital Isolation, and Hospital Quarantine. It also shows the total number of individuals on which the surveillance has been completed, persons under home surveillance, samples collected, samples negative, samples positive, reports awaited, active positive, cases recovered, and the number of deaths.

On 14 April, the developers launched the Poor Persons In Need (PPIN) tracker initiative. They believe that it will connect persons in need with organisations. The developers have invited organisations to join their PPIN initiative. One of the web developers, Mudasir says that through this initiative they will make sure that the aid from the NGOs reaches each and every one and no one is left out. He also claims that if there is a surge in the cases, they will use the data science technique to predict vulnerability of some places.

On 9 April, Netlify, a San Francisco-based Cloud Computing Company and the world’s leading host for JAMStack based websites, has selected the COVID-19 Kashmir tracker website and has upgraded their account with a Covid-19 Support plan for free. Only a few websites from around the world have been selected till now. The plan includes all of their premium features without any hard limits. This will help the developers in improving the website and adding some more features if required.

The developers are doing a noble work for entire J&K. Their work has been recognized by various media agencies and FM stations but, at the same time, the government has not recognized their work. At a time when there are chances of spread of misinformation, these developers are trying their best to provide authentic information on their website. The website is about to cross two lakh views. As a result, the developers would have to start paying for bandwidth, says Mudasir. Hence, it becomes the duty of the administration to come forward and recognise their work that will inspire other individuals to serve their society as well.

Bio:
Ishfaq Majid & Shazia Kouser are Jammu and Kashmir-based Research Scholars at the School of Education, Central University of Gujarat. The authors are exploring the area of Information and Communication Technology in Education. Their writings had earlier appeared in The Diplomat, Economic and Political Weekly, The Rising Kashmir, Medium, Qatar Tribune, Mainstream Weekly, South Asia Journal and Café Dissensus.

As India continues 21-day lockdown, online shopping platforms suspended operations

By Ishfaq Majid & Shazia Kouser

Published By: Cafe Dissensus

Link: https://cafedissensusblog.com/2020/03/26/as-india-continues-21-day-lockdown-online-shopping-platforms-suspended-operations/

The number of COVID-19 cases in India has risen to more than 600 (including 40 cured/discharged and 11 deaths). The Prime Minister of India, Mr. Narendra Modi, announced a 21-day nation-wide lockdown starting from 25 March, 2020. With this lockdown many e-commerce and online groceries have faced disruption to their warehouse and delivery operations in India. Though India’s Ministry of Consumer Affairs urged states to allow some e-commerce deliveries to ensure essential supplies, different state notifications created confusion and have marred operations.

The fourth point in the Guidelines released on 24 March 2020 by Ministry of Home Affairs with order no. 40-3/2020-D clearly shows that the commercial and private establishments shall be closed down, whereas shops, including ration shops (under PDS), dealing with food, groceries, fruits and vegetables, dairy and milk booths, meat and fish, animal fodder will remain functional. The order further declares that the district authorities may encourage and facilitate home delivery to minimize the movement of individuals outside their homes.

The Indian e-commerce company, Flipkart has suspended its operations. The message on its websites reads, “Hey Fellow Indian, we are temporary suspending our services.” However one day before the start of the 21-day lockdown, the items on the platform were running out of stock.

Another online shopping service, Amazon started displaying this message on its homepage, “To serve customers’ most urgent needs while also ensuring safety of our associates, we are prioritizing all our resources to serve products that are currently high priority for customers. Other products are temporarily unavailable for purchase.”

Similar to this, are many other platforms have suspended their operations.

India’s largest online food and grocery store Bigbasket has also suspended access to its website. The message on its website reads, “We’ll be back soon! We are currently experiencing unprecedented demand. In light of this, we are restricting access to our website to existing customers only. Please try again in a few hours.”

Grofers, an Indian online grocery delivery service, has also restricted its delivery services to some locations only. The message on its website reads, “Due to the sudden rush, we have stopped servicing many locations, but we are working to increase capacity and will be resuming operations shortly.”

The popular online shopping platform Paytm Mall seems to be working but the delivery date on the items shows after 10 April which is giving a tough times to its customers. Most of the items are showing ‘unable to be delivered’ from their Gandhinagar, Gujarat, location.

Big Bazaar, an Indian retail chain of hypermarkets, has started to share its door step delivery methods on its twitter handle. The Indian retail platform is displaying telephone numbers of various stores state-wise where the customers can call and place their orders. But the locations are limited.

From the very beginning, the government has been directing the masses for self-distancing so that the virus cannot spread. However, due to the closing of online stores, people are unable to meet their need for basic necessities, required for the survival of human beings. If the e-commerce platforms keep shut, more people will move out of their houses and crowd shops, posing a serious hazard of COVID-19 transmission.

Bio:
Ishfaq Majid & Shazia Kouser are Jammu and Kashmir-based Research Scholars at the School of Education, Central University of Gujarat. The authors are exploring the area of Information and Communication Technology in Education. Their writing had earlier appeared in The Diplomat, Economic and Political Weekly, Medium, Qatar Tribune, Mainstream Weekly, South Asia Journal and Café Dissensus.

National Education Day: Remembering Maulana Abul Kalam Azad

Authors: Ishfaq Majid & Shazia Kouser

Published by: South Asia Journal - Commentary Section

Link: http://southasiajournal.net/national-education-day-remembering-maulana-abul-kalam-azad/?fbclid=IwAR3TuCc3uiB3bjZJ3knkMpcbq6-HXlIpIe8Z7U9hbZ1QHv7w1FqXM-icl-c

National Education Day is being celebrated every year in India on 11^th November. It is being celebrated in the birth anniversary of Maulana Abul Kalam Azad who was the first education minister of independent India serving from 15^th August 1947 till 2^nd February 1958. On 11^th September 2008, the Ministry of Human Resource Development in India announced that 11^th November would will be celebrated to commemorate the birthday of Maulana Abul Kalam Azad by recalling his contribution to the cause of education in India. After 2008 onwards, 11^th November onwards is annually celebrated as National Education Day in India without declaring it as a holiday.

Maulana Kalam Azad was a senior leader of INC, an Indian scholar and an independence activist during the Indian independence movement. After Independence, Maulana became the First Education Minister in India. Maulana worked for establishing the educational foundation in India which is recognized by celebrating his birthday as National Education Day across India.  

As a young man, Maulana Azad was found of composing poetry in Urdu as well as treatises on religion and philosophy. Maulana Azad believed that Schools or the educational institutions are the laboratories which have the capability to produce future citizens of the country. Maulana Azad became the leader of the Khilafat Movement, during which he came into close contact with the famous Indian leader Mahatma Gandhi. Maulana Azad became a supporter of Gandhi's ideas of non-violence and worked to organize the non-cooperation movement in protest of the 1919 Rowlatt Acts. He also worked for the unity of Hindu and Muslims through Al-Hilal newspaper. He was having a firm belief in the philosophy that only true transformation can be achieved through education. Maulana Azad was a key contributor through his pen where he contributed his writings through many books including India Wins Freedom, Ghubar-e-Khatir, Tazkirah, etc. On the grounds of working for education and communal harmony, Maulana Azad was awarded Bharat Ratna.

Maulana Azad laid the base for higher education and was very clear about the primary purpose of education. While addressing CBSE in their first meeting, Maulana Azad said that the goal of any system is only to create a mind that is of balance nature and that cannot be misled by anyone. As stated earlier the role of Maulana Azad in higher education, it is with his efforts towards nation-building, Maulana made it possible to establish the University Grants Commission, Indian Institutes of Technology and various other bodies in India. He founded various other institutions like the Sangeet Natak Akademi, Sahitya Akademi and Lalit Kala Akademi. The base for these institutions was to promote the education and culture in our country.

As India was celebrating the day, Ministry of Human Resource Development announced to launch Swayam 2.0 in an effort to take education to every doorstep of the country. The announcement further reads that Hon'ble Union Minister of will is launching it. SWAYAM is a programme initiated by the govt. to provide the best teaching-learning resources to all.

As we celebrate National Education Day, we should work for humanity. The teachings of Maulana Azad should be spread everywhere to let the people be aware of the day. Let there be no child without education and there exist no differences on the basis of caste, creed, colour and religion.

Authors Bio.:

Ishfaq Majid

Ishfaq Majid is PhD Scholar in School of Education, Central University of Gujarat. He is currently working in the area of ICT in Education. His writings have earlier appeared in Economic and Political Weekly, Mainstream Weekly, Café Dissensus, South Asia Journal, London Institute of South Asia, The Rising Kashmir and Counter-Currents. The author can be mailed at Ishfaq.majid@cug.ac.in

Shazia Kouser

Shazia Kouser is PhD Scholar in School of Education, Central University of Gujarat. She is currently working in her interest area of ICT in Education. Her writings have earlier appeared in South Asia Journal.

Digital Learning: A Shift from Blackboard to Digital Board

Authors: Shazia Kouser & Ishfaq Majid

Published by: South Asia Journal (Commentary Section)

Link: http://southasiajournal.net/digital-learning-a-shift-from-blackboard-to-digital-board/

Digital learning is an innovative method that integrates technology with the process of learning. Digital learning can be implemented across any areas or fields of learning. This type of learning allows the learner to grasp concepts quickly in a more efficient way. With the advent of smartphones and computers, the process of learning has evolved rapidly. The 21st century has been rightly termed as the digital era. With internet bringing a substantial change in peoples lives, we are heavily dependent on the usage of technology to even complete simple tasks. 

Technology keeps on advancing and it is becoming very important in our lives. The common masses are making use of technology every day to improve on the way they accomplish specific tasks. It is being used in various sectors, for example, the way we use technology in classrooms to improve the learning methods of students and to make the teachers job easier. Technology has changed the whole education system where a teacher makes use of a Digital Board or smart board to teach students thus replacing the entire old way of teaching. Gone are the days when classroom training was restricted to textbook learning, teachers using the blackboard to students writing notes in copies. It's more chalk and talk in most schools. Digital education is making its way into the education system of India and is taking the place of the traditional classroom.

In today era of technology, a teacher has a lot of options to choose from with the help of which he/she can make his/her teaching much more effective. Nowadays there are various websites and apps which offer different kind of services to teachers and students. Technology has transformed the classroom, and no one can dispute that there are more advantages than liabilities to harnessing the potential of smartphones and tablets as mobile devices integrate ever more tightly into students’ lives. From greater student engagement to an expansion of the learning environment outside of school, mobile gadgets offer unique educational opportunities.

While schools, colleges and universities continue to integrate technology into the classroom, the hardware is only one part of the puzzle. The market is flooded with many resources for teachers and students. It is the duty of the teachers and students to choose the best one for them which can inspire the young minds. From creating lesson plans and keeping attendance to behaviour records and communicating with students and parents, we’ve compiled a set of the best apps for teachers that enable them to leverage tech instead of fighting it. These resources can prove useful for a teacher and students during the process of teaching and learning.

1. Kahoot: Launched in March 2013 by Johan Brand, Jamie Brooker and Morten Versvik in a joint project with the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. Kahoot is a game-based learning platform. It contains quizzes of multiple choice type. Here a teacher creates a quiz online and the students are asked to join the live quiz by entering the game code. The platform comes usually in three plans i,e Basics, Pro and Premium. The Basics is free, and the user will get basic features. However, for advanced features, the users have to switch over to Pro or Premium plans. The platform can be accessed via web browser or through app which is available for download in Google Play Store.

2. Nearpod: Nearpod offers teachers an easy-to-use tool for creating interactive lesson plans, presentations, assessments, and digital content. Nearpod allows teachers to create digital lesson plans, share it with students during class, and track individual progress. Lessons are comprised of teacher-created slides that can include text, video, images, websites, questions, quizzes, polls, and assignments. Students are able to follow the lesson on their own devices at their own pace or teachers can lead a synchronized session where students can follow the lesson in real-time.

3. Mentimeter: A Swedish company that finds innovative ways to create presentations with real-time feedback. The web and app interface enables users to share knowledge and real-time feedback on mobile. Mentimeter has a lot of other options like presentations, polls or brainstorming sessions in classes, meetings, gatherings, conferences and other group activities. A teacher after uploading the desired PowerPoint Presentation creates a unique six-digit code. The students who want to access that content are directed to enter the unique code to start viewing the PowerPoint on the web. The Swedish based company was ranked as Stockholm's fastest-growing company of the 2018 edition of the Dagens Industri Gasell Award

4. Socrative: Among all the names, Socrative is yet another platform for formative assessment and is supposed to support classroom learning. Its main aim is to connect teachers and students as learning happens. Socrative mission has always been to connect teachers with students as learning happens, by providing fun and effective tools to gauge student understanding in real-time. This helps teachers to modify their instruction to drive student learning most effectively. Socrative currently is available in 14 languages and has almost 3 million users worldwide.

5. Padlet: A blank wall board that can be used by invited participants to collaborate in collecting ideas, brainstorming and sharing information. Padlet enables the participants to post comments, images, videos and links on any topic in real time with the option of modification at a later stage as well. The Padlet wall can be viewed by an audience by being mirrored or projected to a screen. The users that receives an invitation link to post can see the comments, images, videos posted by other invited users as well. Padlet has some additional features as well but for that the users has to migrate to Padlet’s paid premium plans

Above all, there are many apps and website whose main aim is to make teaching and learning process more effective. Lecture method has its own importance but to give a boost to learning, a teacher is supposed to use these resources to create a path of motivation among students to learn effectively. It has also been seen that when some new activities are being conducted in a classroom situation, the students enjoy that part very well. We as teacher educators should take care of all these things before teaching in a class as our main goal is to make the teaching-learning process more understanding and easier.

The authors give due credit to Dr. K. Thiyagu, Assistant Professor, Central University of Kerela for making us aware of all these resources in five days workshop at School of Education, Central University of Gujarat.

Authors Bio’s:

Shazia Kouser

Shazia Kouser is PhD Scholar in School of Education, Central University of Gujarat. She is currently working in her interest area of ICT in Education.

Ishfaq Majid

Ishfaq Majid is PhD Scholar in School of Education, Central University of Gujarat. He is currently working in the area of ICT in Education. His writings have earlier appeared in Economic and Political Weekly, Mainstream Weekly, Café Dissensus, South Asia Journal, London Institute of South Asia, The Rising Kashmir and Counter-Currents. The author can be mailed at Ishfaq.majid@cug.ac.in 

Khalsa Aid India: A Journey of Serving the Mankind

Authors: Varinder Singh & Ishfaq Majid

Published by: Counter Currents (https://countercurrents.org/2019/09/khalsa-aid-india-a-journey-of-serving-the-mankind)
Published on: 20th September 2019

Republished by: Sabrang India

Khalsa Aid International which is popularly known for its humanitarian relief charity and human saving efforts, is serving the common masses from 1999. Khalsa aid is a non-profit UK based organization that provides relief to the people who are facing any kind of distress. Not only this, Khalsa aid is also popularly known for providing relief assistance to the people that are stuck in war zones or any other tragic events like floods, famine and earthquakes. The organization was founded by Ravinder (Ravi) Singh, who was struck by the plight of the refugees in Kosovo in 1999. The founder Ravi saw the footage of the Kosovan refugees on the news and was inspired by one Sikhi ideology in particular that was “Sarbat da Bhalla” meaning “well-being for all” recognizing the humanity in us all and reaching out to those in need, regardless of race, religion, borders. The charity group is not limited to the people of Sikhism but is serving the whole mankind irrespective of caste, creed, color and religion at no cost. In India, Khalsa aid office is located at Patiala Punjab.

On 26^th January 2001, a strong earthquake jolted the western side of Gujarat state resulting in killing of thousands of people. Khalsa aid team carried out heavy rescue operation and immediately provided 50,000 water purification tablets to the people. The group also worked day and night for the welfare of the people and provided individual tents to each family. In yet another effort to save the mankind, Khalsa aid helped over 50,000 people in Punjab during the Catastrophic flooding in August 2007. The people were facing immense economic hardship and loss of basic living conditions. In June 2013, a multi-day cloudburst caused devasting floods and landslides in the North Indian state of Uttarakhand. It became the country's worst natural disaster since the 2004 tsunami. Khalsa Aid was one of the first relief organizations that reached the affected areas. The volunteers set up free food and water stalls for the local people. The effort was warmly welcomed by the travelling pilgrims who had travelled down the mountains on foot. In its second phase of providing relief, Khalsa Aid volunteers provided over 1,000 prepackaged relief items to people affected by the natural disaster. Each package contained many items like rice, sugar, lentils, salt, oil, spices, soap and toothpaste.

In Sep 2013, the Khalsa Aid also played a humanitarian role in the clashes between the Hindu and Muslim communities in Muzaffarnagar district of Uttar Pradesh. A total number of 62 people lost their lives in the clashes including 42 Muslims and 20 Hindus, while as 93 noted injured. The clash also resulted in displacement of more than 50,000 victims. In October 2013 Khalsa Aid, realizing the needs of the victims, distributed blankets and torch lights to the victims. Within two weeks, Khalsa aid spent around 4.5 Lacs rupees to relief the affected people. Again in 2014, the Khalsa aid supported the affected people in the communal riots happened in Saharanpur city of Uttar Pradesh. With the help of local businessmen, the volunteers gave hands in repairing the damaged homes of innocent victims.   

In September 2014, the disastrous flood in Jammu and Kashmir resulted the loss of around 400 lives and around 200,000 people were rescued by Indian Armed forces form the various parts of the region. In such moments of shock and trauma, Khalsa Aid relief team dispatched the relief material which included clean drinking water, food and sanitary items, in the flooded areas. Also, the young volunteers tirelessly did selfless service to rescue people. 

When earthquake stuck Nepal on April 25, 2015, around 9,000 lives were lost and more than 22,000 people suffered injuries. The quake destroyed more than 600,000 homes. Khalsa aid responded quickly and visited to the stricken areas in the aftermath of the earthquake with rescue teams and immediate aid deliveries. It is estimated that nearly 90,000 hot meals were provided to victims. Khalsa Aid volunteers from Delhi, Punjab, and Jammu were the first to reach Nepal when earthquake hit the region in 2015. The Khalsa aid volunteers from Punjab, Delhi and Jammu were even started repairing houses and schools as a part of the rehabilitation. Also, with French and Nepalese army, the Khalsa aid volunteers constructed temporary shelters for 250 families. The clean water tanks were also installed in affected areas.

In the year 2016, water crisis in Maharashtra reached its peak. After analyzing the situation, the Maharashtra government declared drought in around 29,000 villages. Nearly 1.37 crore farmers were affected by this natural calamity. The condition was severe in Marathwada and Vidarbha regions. The state also experienced high rate of suicide by the farmers. In such type of adverse circumstances, Khalsa Aid relief teams decided to lend a helping hand and coordinated the supply of 100,000 liters of clean drinking water to the people in prone areas on daily basis.

In August 2018, the state of Kerala was hit by the worst flood which resulted in making the common people homeless. Khalsa Aid takes the initiative to feed nearly 15000 victims by providing essential commodities. The team also distributed Packing and distribution of food parcels among the flood victims. In December 2018, post Ganpati Visarjan, a team of 30 Khalsa aid volunteers participated in a clean-up drive to clean the Versova Beach to spread awareness about keeping our environment clean and green. The organization also helped Sikhligar Sikhs in MP by providing them with new brick houses to live in. It was an initiative of providing education to all their kids. The volunteers of the organization organized traffic awareness among general public in Jammu city over a period of 5 days by displaying placards with Traffic Awareness slogans. The awareness was aimed to make people aware of the significance of following traffic rules.

In February 2019, post-Pulwama attack which left 49 CRPF personnel’s dead. The Kashmiri students studying in different parts of India were attacked and were asked to leave back to their homes. Khalsa aid organization in collaboration with JK Students organisation carried out a massive rescue operation by evacuated at least 300 Kashmiri students from different states of India and arranged buses for them so that they can travel safely to their respective homes. The organisation also arranged langar’s for the students in different parts of Punjab. Moreover, the Gurdwaras were opened by the organization so that the students could stay safely.

When extremely severe cyclonic storm ‘Fani’ hit Odisha in September 2019, it devastated 20,367 villages in nearly 14 coastal districts of Odisha. In addition to this, around 1.6 crore people were affected and nearly 1.88 lakh hectares of agricultural was damaged. At that severe circumstances, Khalsa aid was quick to extend its humanitarian service to cyclone affected residents. The volunteers worked round the clock and served the food to people in Puri. Every day they served drinking water and food to nearly 5,000 residents in Puri. As water shortage was the biggest challenge, Khalsa aid volunteers purchased around 50,000 liters of drinking water from Kolkata to supply it to the people.

Due to high rainfall in Punjab, in August 2019, large area left devasted by the severe flood. Approximately 300 villages of Jalandhar, Ropar and Ferozepur districts were severely affected in flood. The releasing of water from the Bhakra Dam and the swollen river Sutlej flooded villages in several areas. The flood caused extensive loss to farmers by damaging crops, especially paddy. The several houses were socked in low lying areas. In this devasting calamity, Khalsa Aid along with Indian army played the crucial role in bringing things to normalcy. The volunteers rescued not only the stranded people but also the animals in the flooded areas. The organization released an amount of £1,50,000 (₹1.3 crore) with immediate effect towards the relief work in flood affected areas in Punjab. Khalsa aid deployed its teams with the requisite equipment in Gurdaspur, Philloaur, Pathankot, Dinanagar and in Shahkot.

In August 2019, Khalsa Aid in collaboration with JK Students Association distributed stock, groceries and essential commodities among 300 Kashmiri students in different areas of Chandigarh. The students were facing economic crises due to the communication blockade in Kashmir.

In Bhai Laalo Middle School, Patiala, Currently Khalsa Aid is supporting 250 children of the underprivileged communities. The school was about to close in 2014 due to the funding crises, but the organization took the responsibility to run the school. The school is now providing the educational opportunities to students of economic weaker section. The organization is also funding Dashmesh Public School in Sangrur district of Punjab in which around 400 students from privileged section are receiving free education. The Focus Punjab that was launched in 2010, is one of the other long-term projects of Khalsa Aid for the 1984 conflict victim families. The project has provided assistance to 250 families in Punjab those are living under poverty due to economic, political or other reasons.

In 2017, the founder of Khalsa aid Ravi was honored with the Bhagat Singh Thind Community Empowerment Award at a National Gala Dinner in the USA.

Khalsa Aid is being funded by the common masses. The organization believes that general public can donate even a small amount as it is the most practical and useful method of donation. It helps the organization to plan projects in advance and be more efficient. For receiving donations, the organization has created a dedicated website where the donators can donate the money. Not only this, the organization is timely updating its works on Social Media platforms for the information of the general public.

Note: Khalsa Aid is an International organization. The organization serves the mankind across the world. But the current article focuses only on the works and activities carried by the organization in India.

Authors Bio:

Varinder Singh is a Ph.D. Scholar in School of Education, Central University of Gujarat. He is currently working in the area of Educational Psychology. His writings had earlier published in Mainstream Weekly. The author can be mailed at Varinder.singh@cug.ac.in

Ishfaq Majid is a Ph.D. Scholar in School of Education, Central University of Gujarat. He is currently working in the area of ICT in Education. His writings had earlier published in The Rising Kashmir, Economic and Political Weekly, South Asia Journal, London Institute of South Asia, Countercurrents and Mainstream Weekly. The author can be mailed at Ishfaq.majid@cug.ac.in

Eid Ul Fitr Mubarak

In every shared smile and laughter; In every silent prayer answered; In every opportunity that comes your way – may Allah bless us immensely! Eid Mubarak

Though we don't have anything to celebrate. Still let us remember the people who need our prayers and support. 

Tik Tok in India: An Analysis of Ban and Reprieve

My Piece Republished by The Rising Kashmir, Good Morning Kashmir, English Dailies from Jammu and Kashmir and South Asia Journal.

Click Here To Read on Rising Kashmir Website

Click Here To Read on Good Morning Kashmir Website

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Tik Tok in India: An Analysis of Ban and Reprieve

Published by Counter Currents Online Portal

Website Link: https://countercurrents.org/2019/04/29/tik-tok-in-india-an-analysis-of-ban-and-reprieve-ishfaq-majid/

Tik Tok a Social Media app was launched in September 2017 in China and is owned by a company namely ByteDance. In August, 2018, the app merged with the musical.ly to enhance its video community. The app is available for Android and IOS users (except India) and enables them to create a short video containing music in the background. The video is of 3-15 seconds long and can be edited with respected to its music, filters and speed before it can be shared on the various Social Media platforms. The app got much popularity among the youth as using this app is very much interesting. The interface is built in such a way that no one can get bored while accessing the app. The one of the most feature which made it popular among teens is the lipsyncing. In lipsyncing the user move his lips silently in synchronization with a pre-recorded soundtrack.

The videos made on Tik Tok are created only just for having fun. The users have to bare no additional cost in creating the videos rather the users have to spend their mobile data only. The app gives an opportunity to common masses to become popular on social media platforms. It also provides a chance to those people who did not get a chance to perform in professional shows. Tik Tok is the most downloaded app on the Apple App store by reaching 45.8 million downloads in the first quarter 2018. If we combine the downloads of the Apple App Store and Google Play, Tik Tok is the 6^th most downloaded app in the world in the first quarter of 2018 (Influencer Marketing Hub online portal). The popularity of this app in India is very much high as Tik Tok is having 260 Million users in India. According to Sensor Tower, the number of users is equal to people who use the Facebook app in India. The app is also considered as the most entertaining app of the year 2018.

The youth is India are much interested in this app. Rather spending their time on some productive works, they are getting diverted to the social media apps. The time that should be given in reading books or doing some useful work is being spent on the app. It is believed that it is attracting non-social media users as well who are the first users of the social media sites.  The content posted on the app is harming our culture to a great extent. There are various complaints of Sexual harassment and pornography content coming out from the app as well.

Citing these reasons the Madras high Court banned the Tik Tok app in India. Soon after the court order the app went off from the Google Play Store and Apple App Store. However on 24^th April, the Madras High Court lifted the interim ban on the app but the app is still missing from Google Play Store and Apple App Store. Now the question arises here is that whether banning of the app was good or not. Well regarding the pornography content and the sexual harassment, it might have been good to restrict the use of the app in India. But when we talk about the addiction towards the app, it is better to say that the app interface was built in such a way that youth is becoming addicted to it. The matter of concern here is addiction that is not at all the fault of any app. We can say that the app builders are very much professional and experienced that they designed the app in such a way that it attracted the attention of the common masses.  It might be the lack of care taken by the parents that their wards are getting addicted to it. Parents at least need to take extra care regarding the usage of the app by their wards.

The ban on the app is lifted now but what about the problems and issues that will be arising in front of us. But the good point coming out of the ban is that the company has pointed out that it will makes sure that users adhere to community guidelines and stay within the regulations while uploading content to the platform. The company has told that they will be employing technology to flag objectionable content since July of 2018 and even argued that only 0.0006 per cent of its content is pornographic in nature and the company is working to get it removed from its platform. Still it is our concern to use the app in a good sense that doesn’t violate the privacy of anyone. Using any social media app is not bad at all but the use should be restricted to a certain time period and that usage should not hamper our other activities.

Social Media Awareness: Are We Lacking Behind?

Published by: South Asia Journal
Republished by: Web 2.0 News Today

With the start of the first social networking site “Six Degrees” in 1997, the internet got the attention of the users. Though it was an era of Web 1.0 where one-way communication model was followed. The users accessing social networking sites were able to post their ideas and thoughts but were not able to get any kind of feedback from their friends. With the gradual increase in the usage of Social Networking Sites, these websites started to upgrade their websites to a newer version.  And now in the era of Web 2.0, these websites are capable of gaining much attention from the general public. The user base of these websites is increasing now as these websites have introduced more new features on their websites. But the awareness among the general public is a matter of concern. We are living in such an era where every social media user considers himself as “Social Media Expert”. A blog developer considers himself as “Professional Blogger and Freelancer”. Though these people are less knowledgable about the meaning of these terms still these terms can be seen on the profile section of every social media user.

The social media users have changed the shape of popular social media websites like Facebook. Though there are various social media websites like Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, etc. still Facebook is the only social media website which has received much popularity among the people. This is because the website has introduced a lot of new features which its users consider beneficial for themselves.

Social Media websites have become a place for uploading horrifying content, the content which is baseless and which is giving sleepless nights to people. Though there are many beneficial ways to use these websites but the way people are utilizing it is a matter of great concern. Anywhere in the world, if any person is committing any sin, the people are recording it and uploading it on these websites. Though these people are aware of the future results still they are uploading it just to increase their member base on their Facebook pages. The religion teaches us to hide the sins instead of highlighting them but still, we are very much desperate to share the content for the sake of enjoyment. Some Facebook pages are even using anti religion posts which helps them a lot in increasing the member base of the page.

Social media has become a powerful tool for spreading the information and that too in a quick way. Because Facebook and Twitter timelines move so quickly, viewers don’t often verify what they have seen. A great deal of content is also spread through images and memes, which may or may not be based on valid information. Of course, many memes are created to be funny, cute or outrageous. Others, however, are intended to influence our thinking. Even links to real articles can be misleading. It’s safe to say that most people who see a headline and link never read the whole article.

It’s really the widespread sharing of fake stories that causes harm on social media. If you’re a person who shares alot of content, perhaps with the aid of social media software, you should be extra careful. It only takes a minute or two to verify something you see on social media. Consider the source of the story. If you’ve never heard of it, Google it and see if it’s reputable. If you don’t have that much time, it’s best to ignore it, especially if it has the appearance of something that could be satire, clickbait or propaganda. By not sharing questionable material you can help to cut down on the proliferation of misinformation and fake news.

Recently in South Kashmir’s Pulwama district, one social media user uploaded the naked content of a girl. In response, the girl ended her life. Social Media users need to rethink their roles. They need to look for those opportunities which are going to help the society instead of the destruction. The users need to focus on the positive aspect of these websites. These websites are carrying a bunch of benefits and we need to utilize them. Here the author is of the opinion that the awareness is most important that can play a major role. Before sharing anything on social media, it is our moral duty to understand its possible results. We should never become a problem for any other person. The content that is valuable needs to be shared on social media. If anyone is doing any wrong activity, let us guide him. Let us avoid recording and uploading the content on Social Media. By doing this we can make the Social Media free from this kind of content. Let us make the Social Networking more enjoyable and let others also enjoy.

The Article Was Published by South Asia Journal in their Commentary Section.

Article Link: http://southasiajournal.net/social-media-awareness-are-we-lacking-behind%EF%BB%BF/ 

A Journey of Love, Brotherhood

It was 31st July 2016, we met at Central University of Punjab. From the very first insight, you seemed to be very cooperative. Later on, i observed you as a person of high caliber. The way we worked together to complete our course was definitely a sign of change that was going to happen in my carrier. We have achieved much success in our life and many more is following.

The Journey continued up to May, 2018. But you couldn't understand how much i miss you. You company was one of the best at Central University of Punjab. Though our subject areas are different now but still i hope we will meet again in future. 

I wish you all the very best for your future....

As your birthday is coming ahead, I wish you a "Happy Birthday". May Almighty Bless you and fulfills all your dreams.