We inched to the 500 plus posts, working diligently, in rain or shine. It has been an amazing story of what people can do. It’s about their aspirations and power. A journey that began a little over seven months back enriched us in many ways. We are what we are because of all our contributors. It’s the success of the Global Village that the webzine represents. On this occasion, we offer a special issue on Human Rights and Legal Issues. We will post a Cover Story every day, beginning this Friday (July 1) right up to Sunday (July 3). Arindam details the special issue in Different Truths.  

Congratulations to all our contributors (columnists, academicians, writers, humorists, poets) for achieving another milestone. We have crossed the 500-post mark in Different Truths (DT).

On this occasion, we offer a special issue on Human Rights and Legalities. We will post a Cover Story every day, beginning this Friday (July 1) right upto Sunday (July 3).

Here’s the curtain raiser about the special issue.

Dwelling on the theme, Rhiti Bose, writes a hard hitting article, Is our Silence Perpetrating the Rape Culture? She takes a hard look into the prevalence of rape culture, a global issue, that’s no longer a submerged violence. The author gives a clarion call to put an end to the rape culture. The issue of dignity is of paramount importance, she asserts. Read this in detail on Saturday (July 2).

In the last part of the special story trilogy, we move from the debates on human rights and dignity, into the functioning of the courts. Erudite scholar, Ashoka Jahnvi Prasad, a Psychiatrist and a Barrister – not to speak of his scholarship in three other subjects, focuses on mass litigation. He points out that courts continue to struggle to contain these mass disputes within the structure of a legal system designed for the canonical battle of single plaintiff versus single defendant. Nor is this struggle limited to India; across the world, in jurisdictions that differ from each other in many other important ways, courts are confronting the problems. His in-depth research article is an eye-opener, Mass Litigation: How Courts confront its Complexities Worldwide! Read the concluding part of the Special Issue trilogy on Sunday (July 3).

Other than this, we have an article, The Circle of Love, by Mamta Joshi, a humour piece about what happens in a North Indian wedding during Ladies Sangeet.

Two poems, one on each day, on Saturday and Sunday, would complete the package.

It’s worth mentioning that what began as a seemingly lonesome journey of its two Founders (Anumita Chatterjee Roy and mine) is now a Collective Vision of over 225 contributors, spread out across almost all major countries in the world.

I will close this post with the oft quoted, beautiful Urdu couplet:

mai.n akelaa hee chalaa thaa jaanib e manzil magar
log saath aate gaye aur kaarvaa.n bantaa gayaa

[When I started towards my destination, I was all alone (in my efforts) but as I made progress, others came forward and joined me and we became a force to reckon with.]

These are baby steps. Let’s surge ahead in this meaningful journey.

Let’s be the Change, Friends!

Arindam Roy

Arindam Roy has over four decades of experience in various newsrooms of renowned media houses. He is the Founder, Publishing Director, Editor-in-Chief of Different Truths, and Kavya Kumbh Publishing Consultant (KKPC). He has co-authored ten chapters in six Coffee Table Books (CTBs) of national and international repute and is the sole author of four forthcoming CTBs (Times Group). He has also published four international poetry anthologies as the Publisher and Editor-in-Chief, participated in several poetry and literary festivals, and won awards and accolades. Arindam co-authored the novel Rivers Run Back with an American writer. He stays in Bangalore and Prayagraj.