Ruchira Gupta - Academia.edu (original) (raw)
Papers by Ruchira Gupta
With great pleasure I would like to present the Training Manual for Prosecutors on Confronting Hu... more With great pleasure I would like to present the Training Manual for Prosecutors on Confronting Human Trafficking. The Manual will enable prosecutors to treat trafficked persons as victims rather than criminals and confront the demand for human trafficking by providing the tools to prosecute and convict traffickers, and end exploitation. Victims and survivors of trafficking, international and national experts, activists, lawyers, prosecutors and members of the judiciary have supported the development of this Manual with ideas, advice and case studies. I acknowledge their contribution and support, even if I cannot name them all. I would also like to thank UNODC for their financial and technical support especially
ANTYAJAA: Indian Journal of Women and Social Change
The essay explores the historical colonial legacies of prostitution, sexual and gendered violence... more The essay explores the historical colonial legacies of prostitution, sexual and gendered violence. It draws parallels with new forms of colonialism by mining, timber, oil, and other extractive industries that destroy families and eco-systems at the same time. It connects how violence is deliberately engendered to destroy and colonize whole communities and societies. The essay attempts to show that sexual violence and structural violence are interlinked and that to undo the systems of structural violence, women and men will have to confront the sexual violence in their lives as individuals, as collectives and in systems.
ANTYAJAA: Indian Journal of Women and Social Change
Antyaja`a 1 , meaning The Last Girl, is an especially coined word by the founders of this journal... more Antyaja`a 1 , meaning The Last Girl, is an especially coined word by the founders of this journal, derived from Indian languages and postcolonial, de-colonial sensibilities. It draws its understanding of the 'Last' from Ambedkar's concept of liberating the Antyaj or The Last Born, John Ruskin's Unto the Last, and MK Gandhi's Antyodaya (taken from the words 'Antya' and 'Uday') to mean the rise of those who are the Last. The feminizing `A`a in the end has been inspired by the ferocious sexual goddess Durg`a 2 and rebel poet Mir`a 3. The journal aims to explore inequalities and social change across intersectionalities from the point of view of the most marginalized-'Last'-female (Antya-ja`a). It will go beyond the subaltern (a useful tool in interpreting colonialism from the point of view of the colonized) and offer a new tool to interpret power hierarchies-the lens of the last girl or Antya-ja`a. The 'Last Girl' is the most vulnerable of all human beings because she suffers from one or all of the multiple and intertwining inequalities of class, race, caste, ethnicity, sexuality, religion, age and nationality, generation after generation. She is more vulnerable than a poor man, because she is female, she is weaker than a poor adult female, because she is also a girl and she is weaker than the poor girl, because she could be low-caste in India, Black in US, indigenous in Canada or Australia, a religious refugee minority in Europe… She has no control over her life or her body. She is not permitted to decide whether to go to school or stay at home to help with chores. She is not permitted to decide what to wear, what or how much to eat or even when to eat. She is not permitted to decide whom to marry, when to marry or when to have a baby. She is not allowed to even decide if she is to be sold into domestic servitude or prostitution. She is the most vulnerable, discarded and susceptible to subjugation of all human beings. Action and Policy fail to see her, let alone act or plan for her.
ANTYAJAA: Indian Journal of Women and Social Change, Oct 30, 2018
ANTYAJAA: Indian Journal of Women and Social Change
Antyajaa: Indian Journal of Women and Social Change
One can understand vulnerabilities in a person or a community's life only when one can see the in... more One can understand vulnerabilities in a person or a community's life only when one can see the inequalities that contextualise that life. My perception of who is the most vulnerable began about 20 years ago when I saw the challenges that prostituted women and girls in Lalten Bazaar in Uttari Rampur, at the outskirts of Forbesganj, Bihar. I saw how their caste, class, sex made them unequal and cut off their access to food, clothing, housing, education, livelihood skills, and even legal protection. In Lalten Bazaar, I saw little girls-no more than nine, ten and eleven years of age-being sold into prostitution in the very mud-huts that they were born in. Their mothers could not protect them. They were hungry and homeless too. The women and girls there were trapped in inter-generational prostitution! When I thought of doing something about it, people dissuaded me by saying, 'Don't you know? They are from the Nat community. This is how it is for them. Don't waste time with these girls; it will be akin to putting your hand in a hornet's nest!' It was there that I saw caste inequality: How women and girls of this community were made sexually available for men of the upper castes. When these women resisted, upper caste men came and broke their utensils, beat up their children, kidnapped their daughters, and said: 'This is your destiny. This is your caste'. The police were of the same mindset and did not intervene. There, I also saw gender inequality. The boys were brought up as pimps and the girls to be prostituted. When I tried to get the daughters into school, the mothers would beg me to send their sons to school instead. I would say: 'But your daughter needs to be in a safe place, because she is more likely to be sexually exploited'. The reply would be: 'But it is their destiny. They are girls'. I saw girls who were the income generating resource not being given as much food as the boys who were doing nothing, not being given access to property, not being educated, and certainly not being given the same freedom as the boys to go out, play or do anything. I also saw the hierarchy of age at play. A nine year old was told that she must listen to her elders even though they were pimping her or raping her. She had no control over what she would eat, even when would eat, whether she would go to ANTYAJAA: Indian Journal of Women and Social Change 2(2) vii-ix
Antyajaa: Indian Journal of Women and Social Change
This oral history is captured from a speech that the founder of Indian anti-sex trafficking organ... more This oral history is captured from a speech that the founder of Indian anti-sex trafficking organization, Apne Aap Women Worldwide, gave at an international conference, Last Girl First, in Delhi on 30 January 2017. The conference aimed at showcasing the intersecting inequalities of class, caste, gender, race, ethnicity, religion that make women and girls vulnerable to sex-trafficking. It highlighted through the voices of survivors, activists, labour leaders, politicians, doctors and academics, why prostitution is male sexual violence on women and how renaming it as ‘sex-work’ legitimises the exploitation. The author describes how she started Apne Aap, meaning self-action in Hindi with a few prostituted women, and learned from them and the other thousands of women who joined Apne Aap later, that their prostitution was an absence of choice, not a choice. She explains the consequences of language – how the term ‘sex-worker’ created policies that entrenched the exploitation of prostituted women, leaving no room for exit and excusing States from investing in the basic needs of The Last Girl and in the working rights of women.
ANTYAJAA: Indian Journal of Women and Social Change
Economic and Political Weekly, Mar 14, 1987
Nature genetics, 2000
Inherited mutations in the mismatch repair (MMR) genes MSH2 and MLH1 are found in most hereditary... more Inherited mutations in the mismatch repair (MMR) genes MSH2 and MLH1 are found in most hereditary nonpolyposis colon cancer (HNPCC) patients studied. Eukaryotic MMR uses two partially redundant mispair-recognition complexes, Msh2p-Msh6p and Msh2p-Msh3p (ref.2) Inactivation of MSH2 causes high rates of accumulation of both base-substitution and frameshift mutations. Mutations in MSH6 or MSH3 cause partial defects in MMR, with inactivation of MSH6 resulting in high rates of base-substitution mutations and low rates of frameshift mutations; inactivation of MSH3 results in low rates of frameshift mutations. These different mutator phenotypes provide an explanation for the observation that MSH2 mutations are common in HNPCC families, whereas mutations in MSH3 and MSH6 are rare. We have identified novel missense mutations in Saccharomyces cerevisiae MSH6 that appear to inactivate both Msh2p-Msh6p- and Msh2p-Msh3p-dependent MMR. Our work suggests that such mutations may underlie some cases...
Antyajaa: Indian Journal of Women and Social Change
This piece is based on conversations the author had with Gloria Steinem and Shirin Ebadi over the... more This piece is based on conversations the author had with Gloria Steinem and Shirin Ebadi over the years; and explores the concept of stayagraha in the backdrop of the feminist movement, terrorism and state sponsored violence. It draws out Gloria’s understanding of stayagraha and non-violence, and is an attempt at understanding the psyche which has sustained Ebadi’s non-violent struggle for peace and human rights in Iran all through these years, despite the vitriolic attacks on her by the state.
Journal of Cataract & Refractive Surgery, 1997
Capsule contraction syndrome, an infrequent but sight-compromising condition, can usually be mana... more Capsule contraction syndrome, an infrequent but sight-compromising condition, can usually be managed by a neodymium:YAG (Nd:YAG) anterior capsulotomy. The anterior capsule can be split from the visual axis to the periphery with multiple spokes. In this patient, however, these spokes closed, leaving the small anterior capsulotomy indistinguishable from its pre-capsulotomy appearance. A subsequent Nd:YAG laser circumcision of the thickened capsulotomy margin restored the patient's sight. The excised capsular doughnut fell into the anterior chamber angle and resulted 34 months later in localized corneal decompensation. Removal of the capsular remnant markedly improved the corneal changes. The experience from this case suggests that multiple Nd:YAG relaxing incisions may be a safer way to manage capsule contraction syndrome than complete circumcision of the anterior capsule. If the latter approach is taken, the capsular remnant should not be cut completely free of the anterior capsule.
With great pleasure I would like to present the Training Manual for Prosecutors on Confronting Hu... more With great pleasure I would like to present the Training Manual for Prosecutors on Confronting Human Trafficking. The Manual will enable prosecutors to treat trafficked persons as victims rather than criminals and confront the demand for human trafficking by providing the tools to prosecute and convict traffickers, and end exploitation. Victims and survivors of trafficking, international and national experts, activists, lawyers, prosecutors and members of the judiciary have supported the development of this Manual with ideas, advice and case studies. I acknowledge their contribution and support, even if I cannot name them all. I would also like to thank UNODC for their financial and technical support especially
ANTYAJAA: Indian Journal of Women and Social Change
The essay explores the historical colonial legacies of prostitution, sexual and gendered violence... more The essay explores the historical colonial legacies of prostitution, sexual and gendered violence. It draws parallels with new forms of colonialism by mining, timber, oil, and other extractive industries that destroy families and eco-systems at the same time. It connects how violence is deliberately engendered to destroy and colonize whole communities and societies. The essay attempts to show that sexual violence and structural violence are interlinked and that to undo the systems of structural violence, women and men will have to confront the sexual violence in their lives as individuals, as collectives and in systems.
ANTYAJAA: Indian Journal of Women and Social Change
Antyaja`a 1 , meaning The Last Girl, is an especially coined word by the founders of this journal... more Antyaja`a 1 , meaning The Last Girl, is an especially coined word by the founders of this journal, derived from Indian languages and postcolonial, de-colonial sensibilities. It draws its understanding of the 'Last' from Ambedkar's concept of liberating the Antyaj or The Last Born, John Ruskin's Unto the Last, and MK Gandhi's Antyodaya (taken from the words 'Antya' and 'Uday') to mean the rise of those who are the Last. The feminizing `A`a in the end has been inspired by the ferocious sexual goddess Durg`a 2 and rebel poet Mir`a 3. The journal aims to explore inequalities and social change across intersectionalities from the point of view of the most marginalized-'Last'-female (Antya-ja`a). It will go beyond the subaltern (a useful tool in interpreting colonialism from the point of view of the colonized) and offer a new tool to interpret power hierarchies-the lens of the last girl or Antya-ja`a. The 'Last Girl' is the most vulnerable of all human beings because she suffers from one or all of the multiple and intertwining inequalities of class, race, caste, ethnicity, sexuality, religion, age and nationality, generation after generation. She is more vulnerable than a poor man, because she is female, she is weaker than a poor adult female, because she is also a girl and she is weaker than the poor girl, because she could be low-caste in India, Black in US, indigenous in Canada or Australia, a religious refugee minority in Europe… She has no control over her life or her body. She is not permitted to decide whether to go to school or stay at home to help with chores. She is not permitted to decide what to wear, what or how much to eat or even when to eat. She is not permitted to decide whom to marry, when to marry or when to have a baby. She is not allowed to even decide if she is to be sold into domestic servitude or prostitution. She is the most vulnerable, discarded and susceptible to subjugation of all human beings. Action and Policy fail to see her, let alone act or plan for her.
ANTYAJAA: Indian Journal of Women and Social Change, Oct 30, 2018
ANTYAJAA: Indian Journal of Women and Social Change
Antyajaa: Indian Journal of Women and Social Change
One can understand vulnerabilities in a person or a community's life only when one can see the in... more One can understand vulnerabilities in a person or a community's life only when one can see the inequalities that contextualise that life. My perception of who is the most vulnerable began about 20 years ago when I saw the challenges that prostituted women and girls in Lalten Bazaar in Uttari Rampur, at the outskirts of Forbesganj, Bihar. I saw how their caste, class, sex made them unequal and cut off their access to food, clothing, housing, education, livelihood skills, and even legal protection. In Lalten Bazaar, I saw little girls-no more than nine, ten and eleven years of age-being sold into prostitution in the very mud-huts that they were born in. Their mothers could not protect them. They were hungry and homeless too. The women and girls there were trapped in inter-generational prostitution! When I thought of doing something about it, people dissuaded me by saying, 'Don't you know? They are from the Nat community. This is how it is for them. Don't waste time with these girls; it will be akin to putting your hand in a hornet's nest!' It was there that I saw caste inequality: How women and girls of this community were made sexually available for men of the upper castes. When these women resisted, upper caste men came and broke their utensils, beat up their children, kidnapped their daughters, and said: 'This is your destiny. This is your caste'. The police were of the same mindset and did not intervene. There, I also saw gender inequality. The boys were brought up as pimps and the girls to be prostituted. When I tried to get the daughters into school, the mothers would beg me to send their sons to school instead. I would say: 'But your daughter needs to be in a safe place, because she is more likely to be sexually exploited'. The reply would be: 'But it is their destiny. They are girls'. I saw girls who were the income generating resource not being given as much food as the boys who were doing nothing, not being given access to property, not being educated, and certainly not being given the same freedom as the boys to go out, play or do anything. I also saw the hierarchy of age at play. A nine year old was told that she must listen to her elders even though they were pimping her or raping her. She had no control over what she would eat, even when would eat, whether she would go to ANTYAJAA: Indian Journal of Women and Social Change 2(2) vii-ix
Antyajaa: Indian Journal of Women and Social Change
This oral history is captured from a speech that the founder of Indian anti-sex trafficking organ... more This oral history is captured from a speech that the founder of Indian anti-sex trafficking organization, Apne Aap Women Worldwide, gave at an international conference, Last Girl First, in Delhi on 30 January 2017. The conference aimed at showcasing the intersecting inequalities of class, caste, gender, race, ethnicity, religion that make women and girls vulnerable to sex-trafficking. It highlighted through the voices of survivors, activists, labour leaders, politicians, doctors and academics, why prostitution is male sexual violence on women and how renaming it as ‘sex-work’ legitimises the exploitation. The author describes how she started Apne Aap, meaning self-action in Hindi with a few prostituted women, and learned from them and the other thousands of women who joined Apne Aap later, that their prostitution was an absence of choice, not a choice. She explains the consequences of language – how the term ‘sex-worker’ created policies that entrenched the exploitation of prostituted women, leaving no room for exit and excusing States from investing in the basic needs of The Last Girl and in the working rights of women.
ANTYAJAA: Indian Journal of Women and Social Change
Economic and Political Weekly, Mar 14, 1987
Nature genetics, 2000
Inherited mutations in the mismatch repair (MMR) genes MSH2 and MLH1 are found in most hereditary... more Inherited mutations in the mismatch repair (MMR) genes MSH2 and MLH1 are found in most hereditary nonpolyposis colon cancer (HNPCC) patients studied. Eukaryotic MMR uses two partially redundant mispair-recognition complexes, Msh2p-Msh6p and Msh2p-Msh3p (ref.2) Inactivation of MSH2 causes high rates of accumulation of both base-substitution and frameshift mutations. Mutations in MSH6 or MSH3 cause partial defects in MMR, with inactivation of MSH6 resulting in high rates of base-substitution mutations and low rates of frameshift mutations; inactivation of MSH3 results in low rates of frameshift mutations. These different mutator phenotypes provide an explanation for the observation that MSH2 mutations are common in HNPCC families, whereas mutations in MSH3 and MSH6 are rare. We have identified novel missense mutations in Saccharomyces cerevisiae MSH6 that appear to inactivate both Msh2p-Msh6p- and Msh2p-Msh3p-dependent MMR. Our work suggests that such mutations may underlie some cases...
Antyajaa: Indian Journal of Women and Social Change
This piece is based on conversations the author had with Gloria Steinem and Shirin Ebadi over the... more This piece is based on conversations the author had with Gloria Steinem and Shirin Ebadi over the years; and explores the concept of stayagraha in the backdrop of the feminist movement, terrorism and state sponsored violence. It draws out Gloria’s understanding of stayagraha and non-violence, and is an attempt at understanding the psyche which has sustained Ebadi’s non-violent struggle for peace and human rights in Iran all through these years, despite the vitriolic attacks on her by the state.
Journal of Cataract & Refractive Surgery, 1997
Capsule contraction syndrome, an infrequent but sight-compromising condition, can usually be mana... more Capsule contraction syndrome, an infrequent but sight-compromising condition, can usually be managed by a neodymium:YAG (Nd:YAG) anterior capsulotomy. The anterior capsule can be split from the visual axis to the periphery with multiple spokes. In this patient, however, these spokes closed, leaving the small anterior capsulotomy indistinguishable from its pre-capsulotomy appearance. A subsequent Nd:YAG laser circumcision of the thickened capsulotomy margin restored the patient's sight. The excised capsular doughnut fell into the anterior chamber angle and resulted 34 months later in localized corneal decompensation. Removal of the capsular remnant markedly improved the corneal changes. The experience from this case suggests that multiple Nd:YAG relaxing incisions may be a safer way to manage capsule contraction syndrome than complete circumcision of the anterior capsule. If the latter approach is taken, the capsular remnant should not be cut completely free of the anterior capsule.