Sabarimala: Biologists declare, prejudice against menstruation has no scientific basis

By A Representative
Even as two under-50 women became the first to enter the Sabarimala temple, following which temple priests shutting down the for "purification" briefly, and BJP-led Hindu organisations calling for a dawn-to-dusk strike, biologists from across India have issued a statement saying that the prejudice against menstruation has nothing to do with science.
In a clear support to the Supreme Court verdict ending the decades-old ban on women of menstrual age entering the shrine, the biologists said that that discrimination against women on account of menstruation in any form and any place is a glaring breach of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights and the core principles of the Indian Constitution.
“The notion of menstruation as pollution causes perpetual stress in women, and as they are now exposed to science and progressive values, this can cause retrogressive evolutionary change in the human females’ reproductive physiology to the detriment of the entire species,” they said in a statement.
The statement said, “The prejudice and the discrimination of women during the period of menstruation represent a gross denial of science. Menstrual blood is one of the several excretions from the human body that is central to the perpetuation of the human species.”
It added, “The notion of menstruation as pollution causes perpetual stress in women, and as they are now exposed to science and progressive values, this can cause retrogressive evolutionary change in the human females’ reproductive physiology to the detriment of the entire species.”
The statement has been signed by Dr Manjari Jain, assistant professor, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Mohali, Punjab; Dr PA Azeez, Former Director, Salim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History (SACON); Prof Shakuntala Sreedhara, Member of the Board of Management, University of Agricultural Science, Bangalore; Prof Neelkamal Rastogi, Dept of Zoology, Institute of Science, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi; Dr S Faizi, President, Ethological Society of India, Trivandrum; Dr K Sreedevi, Senior Scientist, ICAR-NBAIR, Bangalore; Dr VV Binoy, National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bangalore; and Dr Renu Kohli, Associate Professor of Zoology, Pali Govt College, University of Jodhpur.

Arrival of USS Lincoln: A ‘leisure trip’ to Thailand or a neo-colonial move to commodify women?

By Benyasiri Eimviriyapong The arrival of the USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72) for a ‘leisure trip’ in Thailand before returning to its campaign of destruction against the people of West Asia demands immediate interrogation and opposition. For us Thai people, and those in sites of American plunder across the globe, this a rattling of the US’ cold war colonial chains on its most loyal lap dog, while conducting a war of aggression in Iran and the ongoing genocide in Palestine. In allowing the USS Lincoln to dock, the Thai ruling elites are once again facilitating a system of imperial violence that extends far beyond Southeast Asian borders, a system which in our case, is predicated on sexual violence and femicide.

Pilgrimage or pollution? The waste crisis of Indian faith

By Raj Kumar Sinha* In today's times, there are certain issues that are constantly talked about and discussed, yet no visible impact seems to be made. Beyond water, soil, and pollution, one crisis that continues to be overlooked is waste. Like other life-threatening problems, waste too is gradually moving toward burying and obliterating us. After the Kanwar Yatra in Haridwar, approximately 8,000 tonnes of waste were left behind on the riverbanks, including bottles filled with urine.

The 'Dr' debate masks a larger crisis in allied-health education

By Dr P K Gupta* India’s allied-health professions have long operated in a fragmented landscape of universities, hospitals, State authorities and private institutions, each with its own nomenclature, curriculum and standards. The National Commission for Allied and Healthcare Professions Act, 2021 was meant to correct this by creating a unified national framework for education, professional regulation and institutional recognition. Few dispute the need for such oversight. The real question is whether standardisation is quietly becoming synonymous with longer courses, additional internships and new professional titles—changes that risk masking deeper gaps in clinical training, institutional capacity and affordability.

Counterview

Search This Blog