The Voice of Creative Research

Evaluating the Socio-Economic Impact of Microfinance on Rural Development in Uttar Pradesh

Ranjeet Sagar, Prof. Daya Ram Gangwar — Fri, 31 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000

This article evaluates the socio-economic impact of microfinance on rural development in Uttar Pradesh (UP), India, drawing on recent national and state-level evidence from the Self-Help Group–Bank Linkage Programme (SHG–BLP) and the microfinance industry (NBFC-MFIs, banks, SFBs). Using secondary data from NABARD’s Status of Microfinance in India 2023–24, MFIN Micrometer 2023–24 and 2024–25, the National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY–NRLM) management information system, and public financial inclusion statistics (PMJDY), the study assesses pathways through which microfinance influences income generation, women’s empowerment, financial inclusion, enterprise formation, and resilience. State-wide analysis is complemented with a district-aware lens that references programmatic outreach in Azamgarh, Jaunpur, Sitapur, Hardoi, and Prayagraj—districts that feature prominently in Uttar Pradesh’s recent ‘Zero Poverty’ campaign—while interpreting results as representative of the state rather than single-district case studies. The SHG–BLP expanded to 144.22 lakh savings-linked SHGs nationally in 2023–24, with ₹2.09 lakh crore disbursed by banks to 54.82 lakh SHGs; the microfinance universe’s gross loan portfolio reached ₹4.34 lakh crore serving 7.8 crore unique borrowers as of March 2024. Parallel gains in financial inclusion are reflected in 8.14 crore PMJDY accounts in UP, though inactivity remains a policy concern. Against this backdrop, the paper synthesizes evidence on socio-economic outcomes and contextual risks—over‑indebtedness, interest rate sensitivity, delinquency pockets, and operational vulnerabilities—before offering policy implications for integrating microfinance with livelihoods, skilling, market linkages, and digital rails. The study concludes that microfinance is a necessary but not sufficient driver of rural development: its impact is maximized when credit is bundled with capability building, social intermediation (through SHGs and federations), and convergence with public schemes (NRLM, MGNREGS, PMEGP, and value-chain programs).

Postmodernism in Selected Contemporary British Novels

N Mahesh, Dr K Sumakiran — Fri, 31 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000

This article critically examines the continuing influence of postmodernism on contemporary British fiction through an analysis of selected novels by Julian Barnes, Salman Rushdie, Jeanette Winterson, and Peter Ackroyd. It investigates how these writers employ postmodern strategies—fragmentation, metafiction, magic realism, non-linear narrative, and intertextuality—to interrogate the constructed nature of history, identity, and reality in a globalized, plural world. Drawing on postmodern literary theory, the study analyses how these texts foreground uncertainty, ambiguity, and cultural fragmentation as defining conditions of late modernity. Barnes’s England, England satirizes the commodification of national identity through the hyperreal reconstruction of Britain’s past; Rushdie’s Two Years, Eight Months and Twenty-Eight Nights fuses myth and history to question the binaries of reason and faith; Winterson’s The Stone Gods reconfigures gender and environmental consciousness through a cyclical, non-linear narrative; and Ackroyd’s The Last Testament of Oscar Wilde exemplifies historiographic metafiction to expose the instability of historical truth. The article concludes that postmodernism remains a vital critical framework for understanding how contemporary British fiction reimagines the relationship among culture, identity, and narrative in the twenty-first century, offering alternative epistemologies for an increasingly fragmented and interconnected world.

Negotiating Culture and Identity: Diasporic Sensibility and East–West Encounters in Kamala Markandaya’s Novels

Rajesh Yadav, Prof. Pratima Chaitanya — Fri, 31 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Kamala Markandaya (1924–2004) remains one of the most perceptive chroniclers of postcolonial India’s encounter with modernity, nationalism, and diasporic consciousness. Her fiction intricately explores the dialectic between Eastern and Western sensibilities, tradition and modernity, and individual and collective identities. This paper examines three of her major novels—Some Inner Fury (1955), Possession (1963), and The Nowhere Man (1972)—to analyze how Markandaya transforms personal relationships into metaphors of cultural negotiation and identity formation. In Some Inner Fury, the collision of love and politics during India’s nationalist movement dramatizes the moral and emotional turmoil of cross-cultural attachments under colonial pressure. Possession allegorizes the dynamics of colonial domination and spiritual resistance through the relationship between the British patron Lady Caroline and the Indian artist Valmiki, revealing the moral limits of cultural appropriation. The Nowhere Man extends this inquiry to the diasporic context, portraying exile and racial hostility in postwar Britain through the tragic isolation of Srinivas, an Indian immigrant whose humanity transcends the confines of nationality and race. Across these narratives, Markandaya’s diasporic sensibility emerges as deeply humanistic—rooted in Indian values yet responsive to the complexities of global modernity. The study argues that her fiction articulates a sustained meditation on belonging, displacement, and intercultural understanding, thereby securing her position as a crucial voice in postcolonial Indian English literature.

Hybridity and Memory: Inclusive Identity Constructs in Naomi Shihab Nye’s Diasporic Verse

Hanna Thasneem S. K., Dr. Moncy Mathew — Fri, 31 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000

The present article explores how Naomi Shihab Nye’s poetry navigates cultural identity. It looks closely at Making a Fist (1995), My Father and the Fig Tree (2002) and Different Ways to Pray (2006). Using ideas from postcolonial and multicultural theorists like Stuart Hall, Homi K. Bhabha, and Charles Taylor, the paper discusses how Nye’s vivid images, memory, and everyday moments show Arab American identity as a changing and active process. The analysis suggests that Nye’s poems go beyond describing displacement or nostalgia. For Nye, differences among cultures and identity are to be celebrated and received with a sense of inclusion among individuals and communities. The study shows that Nye keeps and reshapes Arab American identity through memory, daily experiences, and symbols. Her poetry is an important part of American literature and multicultural conversations.

Haunted by Displacement: Cultural Alienation and the Search for Belonging in Amy Tan’s Saving Fish from Drowning

Nicy Joseph, Dr. Shobha Ramaswamy — Fri, 31 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Amy Tan’s Saving Fish from Drowning (2006) represents cultural alienation and the search for belonging, with particular reference to how displacement affects both individual and collective identity. With the detailed depiction of the American tourists and their travels to Burma, the novel highlights the resistant response to Western fictions imposed on non-Western cultures. The apparition storyteller, Bibi Chen, serves as both a spectator and an uprooted subject, outlining the disengagement experienced by diasporic people who possess different social circles without completely having a place to any. The visitors, in spite of the fact that advantaged, ended up typical of social pariahs who stay dazzled by the complexities of the arrive they navigate. The paper analyses the voices of the displaced diasporic identities in a multicultural space and the intricate nature of cultural complexities in identity formation in a globalized, yet fragmented world.

Revelation of Identity in E. M. Forster’s Novel A Passage to India

Shah Mohd Abdullah, Prof. Sarvajit Mukerji — Fri, 31 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Revelation of identity in Literature is a plot device where a character's true, hidden, or significant identity is unveiled, often leading to personal reformation and new roles for the character, or prompting a larger conflict or epiphany within the narrative. These revelations can explore themes of self-discovery, alienation, and the human condition, as characters grapple with internal and external pressures to understand who they are. There are several writers who concentrated their writing in revelation of identity. They have explored varied identity in their works. James Joyce has dealt with fragmented self and cultural identity in A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man and Ulysses. Virginia Woolf has examined inner identity and selfhood in Mrs Dalloway and Orlando. Franz Kafka has showed alienation and loss of self in The Metamorphosis. Toni Morrison has explored African-American identity in novels like Beloved. And, Salman Rushdie has written about cultural and postcolonial identity in Midnight’s Children. Apart from these writers, E. M. Forster deeply explores the theme of identity crisis, highlighted through the psychological and cultural struggles of both colonizers and colonized individuals. This paper highlights the problematic relationship between the colonizer and the colonized in a colonial context as manifested in Forster's novel, A Passage to India. The present paper is an attempt to look into the ways scholars of identity and selfhood have approached the implications of rational knowledge.

Understanding Sisterhood in the Postcolonial-Feminist Interface

Jeremy Jain Babu, Prof. (Dr.) Jinu George — Fri, 31 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Postcolonial Feminism arose as a response to Western Mainstream Feminism. The unheard voice and whispers of lives lived and lost within four-foot rooms and of those neglected based on race, religion, creed, class, and colour deserve their space and are expressed through the postcolonial-feminist interface. Postcolonial Feminism is about the colonised women whom higher-class women or men put down; gender specificity fades in the light of the problems discussed by these women. Postcolonial Feminism has never operated as a separate entity from postcolonialism; rather, it has directly inspired the forms of postcolonial politics. Where its feminist focus is foregrounded, it comprises non-Western feminism, which negotiates the political demands of nationalism, socialist Feminism, liberalism, and eco-feminism, alongside the social challenges of everyday patriarchy. This research article focuses on the necessity of universal sisterhood in the postcolonial era, where women of all races, colours and creeds come together and fight as one. This article also analyses the double standard of Feminism as depicted in bell hooks’ essay “Feminist Politics: Where We Stand”. The lives of Third World women are also scrutinised to prove that not all women’s stories are the same, and hence, different platforms are needed for such discourses to be developed and flourish. Postcolonial Feminism will be the guide to bring back mainstream Feminism to its focus and thus to accomplish the real vision.

Surveilled Wombs: A Study on Infertility, Technology and Politics of Reproduction in Select Indian Fiction

Ms. Arya P. A. , Dr. D. Lourdhu Mary — Fri, 31 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Infertility in India is not only a biomedical phenomenon; it is a deeply social, cultural, and gendered crisis that transforms the female body into a site of surveillance and intervention. The growth of assisted reproductive technologies (ARTs), such as in vitro fertilisation and surrogacy, has entrenched the female body into the space of technological manipulation, bureaucratic surveillance, and transnational reproductive economies. This paper examines the way in which three modern Indian novels, The Mess in Her Womb (2022) by Dr. Chhavi Gandhi Juneja, Padma (2022) by Mala Mahesh, and A House for Happy Mothers (2016) by Amulya Malladi, portray infertility and technology-assisted reproduction as the place where female subjectivity is both regulated and refashioned. The analysis uses the ideas of the medical gaze and biopower developed by Michel Foucault to show that clinics, contractual relations, and diagnostic procedures transform women into docile reproductive subjects, which makes them measurable and manageable. The analysis identifies three dimensions which are interlinking: the role played by the clinic in transferring the intimate desire into the measurable data; the negotiation of the female body using technological apparatuses that offer hope yet strengthening control; and the tension of lived embodiment and the institutional motherhood. Ultimately, these novels demonstrate how literature humanises ART by foregrounding ambivalence, pain, and resilience, urging a shift from viewing infertility as a technical failure to recognising it as a narrative of survival, desire, and dignity.

A Comparative Study of Job Satisfaction among College Teachers

Dr. Ajay Kumar Prajapati — Fri, 31 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000

To educate or impart knowledge to others is an immensely honorable task. Despite limited income and minimal facilities, teachers derive great satisfaction from their profession, for it is in their hands to shape the future of children and to guide the nation toward progress. If teachers are fully dedicated to their profession, they will continue to devote themselves wholeheartedly to this noble service of the nation. However, if they do not receive adequate satisfaction from their work, it may adversely affect the quality of their teaching. Therefore, teachers’ job satisfaction is a matter of national concern and must be thoughtfully addressed in the interest of the nation, so that those who prepare the future generations may also receive due justice and recognition. With this understanding, the researcher has attempted to examine the level of job satisfaction among teachers and to explore the issues they face in the present changing circumstances.

Interrogating Humanism and Social Consciousness: Ethics, Morality, and Realism in the Select Novels of Munshi Premchand

Sanjai Kumar Sharma, Prof. Kumar Parag — Fri, 31 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000

This article focuses on the dynamic engagement between humanism, ethics and ideology in the novels of Munshi Premchand as it merges with social interest rooted literary realism amidst colonial India. Instead, it contextualises that Premchand’s realism stems not from abstract idealism but from the moral weave of everyday life — where moral choices emerge through caste hierarchies, gender constraints and economic vulnerability. It examines the ways in which, through its analyses of Godaan (The Gift of a Cow), Nirmala, Sevasadan, Rangbhoomi, Gaban, and Karmabhumi, the study locates Premchand performance moral conflict and social reform within the crucible pressures wrought by colonial capitalism, national awakening, uneven modernisation in the Hindi heartland. Premchand’s humanism is not sentimental charity; it is an intense ethical reflection on how to sustain the value of humanity under less than-ideal conditions of agrarian indebtedness, patriarchal domesticity, bureaucratic bribery and colonial machinery of coersion. His ethical awareness has no time for ideological purity; instead it’s all about gradualism, life’s gray areas and the realism of compromise. Specifically, it discusses Premchand’s use of irony, polyphonic narrative and free indirect discourse to destabilize moral certainty and widen the scope of the ethical in Hindi fiction. In the end, Premchand’s realism is an ethics at work-a literary technique that turns “the social problem” into a space of contested authorship and moral inquiry. It still brims with resonance for its insistence that humane life be imagined not in the abstract against structural constraint but in painful negotiation with it.

Precarious Education and Employability Crises in Osborne’s Look Back in Anger

Dr. Bishun Kumar — Fri, 31 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Rising rates of frustration, anger, psychological disorders, gender conflicts, class conflicts, unethical practices, familial and conjugal disharmony, and job insecurity question the true mission of education. The irony of modern education is that, instead of teaching individuals how to handle the ups and downs of life and family, it complicates life by fostering insatiable desires and illogical competition. Instead of grooming a raw child into a reliable personality, it renders learners vulnerable. If the educated are the greater sufferers, it presents a serious challenge for educators and exposes the precarious outcomes of the current educational system. University education often fails to meet the expectations of students; rather, it deprives them of suitable employment. The paradox of higher education lies in the fact that the very system believed to be a weapon against injustice and victimization has itself become a major force behind the precarization of young aspirants. This paper aims to analyze and understand how far the contemporary education system and university academic culture are capable of achieving the goals of higher education. It also seeks to identify the factors that make education precarious. Further, it examines John Osborne’s Look Back in Anger (1956) from the perspective of precarious education, employability crises, and the shift from violence to empathy. The study explores how literary speculation reflects the consequences of precarious education and the resulting crises of employability.

Class and Gender Intersections in Banu Mushtaq’s Heart Lamp

Vinaya Mary — Fri, 31 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000

This paper aims to study the multiple shades of victimization that suppress women and the lowly in Banu Mushtaq’s collection of short stories titled Heart Lamp, translated by Deepa Bhasthi. Written between 1990 and 2023, the stories in this Booker Prize winning collection showcase the lives of women from Muslim communities in Southern rural India. Selected stories from this collection are put to study based on intersectional theory and Marxist-feminist frameworks in order to decipher the conservative notions that often hold back families and societies from providing women equal opportunities for growth and progress, even in the beginning phases of the twenty-first century. These stories are slices of life, many of which do not show heroic acts of resistance from the part of the disadvantaged, but rather portray sheer reality that invokes subtle terror in readers. Addressing a range of issues like poverty, early marriage, maternal mortality, abandonment and denial of property rights, reproductive rights as well as education, these stories vocalise the use and misuse of authoritarian laws to suit the needs of those they favour. In a class society that is rigidly patriarchal, women and the poor experience systemic oppression wherein they are rendered voiceless and cannot make decisions for themselves even in basic matters of rights and justice. This systemic oppression is intersectional, as it involves multiple dimensions of social power like gender and class. By rawly portraying the woe and frustration that women face in such closed spaces, these stories make an impact for change. Through an intersectional analysis of selected stories, this paper seeks to bring to light the different faces of oppression that women are subject to in rural localities where fundamentalist principles are often prioritised over ethical concerns.

Beyond the Margins: Re-evaluating the Representation of Women in Chinua Achebe’s Fiction

Dr. K. Vijayalakshmi — Fri, 31 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Chinua Achebe ’s fiction, in its ever so popular work as a rebuilder of African identity and history, has faced criticism over the way it has silenced women’s voices under the patriarchal Igbo society. Yet a more careful reading shows us that even the women in Achebe’s villages are anything but banal: they exude quiet strength, resilience and moral authority. Abstract This article revisits Achebe’s presentation of women in Things Fall Apart, Arrow of God and No Longer at Ease to reveal levels of agency frequently overlooked by conventional criticism. Within the framework of post-colonial feminist theory, this study posits that Achebe's women are only victims of patriarchy, but also active agents in maintaining the continuity of culture and stability of society. Through figures such as Ekwefi, Ezinma, and Akueke, Achebe interrogates one-dimensional notions of African womanhood and points to a complex view of gender in Igboland. The paper argues that Achebe’s portrayal of women is underpinned by patriarchal borderlines, but at the same time humanises and dignifies them, encouraging readers to consider the “beyond the margins” of narrative visibility.

The International Framework on the Right to Healthcare: A Comparative Analysis with Special Reference to the United States

Arpit Yadav, Dr. Vipin Kumar — Fri, 31 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000

The human right to health is a fundamental principle in contemporary society and governance. Based on the provisions in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (1966), these right guarantees everyone a defined entitlement to good health. The development and normative architecture of the international right to health, with particular attention to its contents, duties, and mechanisms for realization can be seen as concerned to the global human rights law. Of special interest is the US, where an particular kind of healthcare system— with a privatised, insurance-based model vastly different from universal systems found in western European nations such as National Health Service and France— has developed. Using a comparative approach, the article illustrates that distance between international commitments and domestic implementation, focusing on consequences of non-ratification of ICESCR by the U.S. and on the weak constitutional recognition of health rights therein. It also highlights that socioeconomic disparities, policy dysfunction and political division still stand in the way of fair access to health care. It, further, argues how the U.S. health care system could be brought into compliance with international human rights standards through such reforms as universal coverage, codification of the right to health and ratification of treaties on these issues.

From Cinema to Cyberspace: Meme Culture, Digital Virality, and the Politics of Representation in Malayalam Cinema

Dr. Sandra Juliet Jose — Fri, 31 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000

The rise of meme culture and digital virality has reshaped the engagement of audiences with cinema. The study focuses the trend particularly in the context of Malayalam film industry. With the proliferation of OTT platforms, social media, and short-form video content, cinematic dialogues, characters, and scenes are increasingly reinterpreted in meme culture. This phenomenon has altered not only the longevity of films but also the way narratives, characters, and performances are perceived in the public sphere. This paper explores the intersection of digital culture, memeification, and the shifting landscape of authorship, film criticism, and audience agency. Through the study of five iconic Malayalam cinema characters—Dasamoolam Damu (Chattambinadu, 2009), Shammi (Kumbalangi Nights, 2019), Anappara Achamma (Godfather, 1991), Manavalan (Pulival Kalyanam, 2003), and Ramanan (Punjabi House, 1998)—the paper examines how memes function as a mode of reinterpretation, ideological critique, and socio-political commentary. Drawing from theories of hyperreality, toxic masculinity, feminist film criticism, affective economics, and carnivalesque aesthetics, this study critically evaluates the evolving digital discourse surrounding Malayalam cinema.

The Marginalised Majority: Voicing the Angst of the Linguistically Challenged in Chetan Bhagat’s Half Girlfriend

Dr. Jolly Alex — Fri, 31 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000

The novel Half Girlfriend (2014) by Chetan Bhagat exposes a facet of social stratification in India, which is gauged by one’s ability to articulate in English and has become a marker of social hierarchy in contemporary times. The protagonist, Madhav Jha, a mouthpiece of the author, who hails from Bihar, endures marginalisation and derision at St. Stephen’s College, Delhi, because of his poor English-speaking skills. This linguistic handicap relegates him to the margins, thwarts his agency, rendering him virtually invisible. Through him, Bhagat brings to the fore the class divisions between the fluent speakers of the language and the not-so-fluent ones, illustrating the resultant inferiority and angst in the minds of the latter. This novel has thus succeeded in creating consciousness in the minds of the speakers, who have an extremely exalted opinion about their linguistic skills and are contemptuous towards those lacking proficiency in it. The attempt is hence to advocate for acceptance and inclusivity as well as a refinement in the attitudes of those at higher echelons towards the linguistically thwarted ones, and a plea for a more egalitarian society in future.

Trends of Research in Education: Relevance and Significance

Yashika Poddar, Dr. Ashok Dansana — Fri, 31 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000

A longitudinal research study has been conducted to identify the trends in the field of Education. The trends have been studied with the help of the PhD theses submitted during the years 2011-2021 of three universities of India which have made noteworthy contributions to the development of the subject. A total of 202 PhD theses has been studied to identify the patterns of research in the field of Education. The objectives of the research include identifying areas of education or sections and premises in the subject area which have been given more importance, the research design, methods of research, stages of education that have been actively studied by researchers. It also identifies the geographical expanse of a research study and the social background of the researchers carrying out the study. It also studies the future suggestions made by the researchers. This will indicate the future direction of a particular study. The study is not just relevant to the field of Education but also to other disciplines of Social Sciences as the research designs and methods opted by researchers in a particular discipline have seen overlap in other similar disciplines. The social representations in research cut across disciplines and become relevant in any field except some gendered professions and areas of study. There is an overall lack of representation from the reserved communities in any discipline as the hospitals, educational institutions, and government institutions fail to fill reserved seats at the higher levels of an organization. The study tries to correlate the trends of research and the problem of accurate representation where no or less representation leads to false narratives in research and improper solutions. It is to highlight that the people suffering from the problem could be trend setters in research and themselves move towards probable solutions.

Nature, Memory, and the Self: Reading the Inner Landscapes in B.S. Tyagi’s Autumn Colors

Dr. Rakesh Roshan Singh — Fri, 31 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000

The present research article deals with the interwoven themes of nature, memory and self in B.S. Tyagi’s poetry collection Autumn Colors (2023), by asserting it as a meditative journey towards the poet’s inner worlds and social consciousness. Tyagi represents nature not only as passive landscape but as reflection of emotional and spiritual conditions— indeed a belief in metaphysics that an external world corresponds to an internal experience. The poems in this collection confirm the ability to make suffering worthwhile and beauty real, and to articulate a vision of wholeness both within and beyond individual identity. The spirituality of poet has been extensively examined showing his yearning for union with Bramha which resonates such images and themes, leading to levels of spiritual fulfillment. Memory plays a crucial role throughout the collection. It remains a subject and poetic technique, showing how remembering themselves can provide healing from emotional pain and a source of creative transformation. Examining the intersection of ecological receptivity, autobiographism and philosophical depth in Autumn Colors, the article contends that it might be read as a work which embodies an intercultural poetics belonging to the Eastern metaphysics.

A Cognitive Linguistic Exploration of Moral Ambiguity in Asura and Lanka’s Princess

Arpita Rath, Dr. Gurudev Meher — Fri, 31 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Mythological retelling as an emerging genre has grabbed attention of the contemporary generation. It not only takes them back to mythical stories of our sacred past, but reminds them of our cultural identity and origin. Several mythological retellings tend to challenge the long-standing dominant ideologies revolving around the ethical binary of good and evil and dharma and adharma. This paper aims to examine Neelakantan’s Asura: The Tale of Vanquished and Kane’s Lanka’s Princess through the lens of cognitive linguistics. It studies how traditionally evil icons of Ravana and Surpanakha are reframed in these texts using cognitive language, drawing reader’s sympathies. In addition, it also draws our attention to the moral ambiguities faced by the readers after reading these retellings that shapes their understanding of dharma- from a selfless deed- to a more dynamic expression of self-identity, personal justice and resistance. The paper draws on the Conceptual Metaphor Theory and Discourse Analysis to understand how metaphors are used in the language and how narrative tone and voices fuel this ambiguity.

Fire on the Ganges: Caste, Gender, and Sacred Labour among the Dom Community of Banaras

Alok Ranjan, Dr. Shuchi, Namrah Rizvi — Fri, 31 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000

The present paper articulates the voice against the injustices and discrimination that the Dom community faces, focusing on Radhika Iyengar’s Fire on the Ganges: Life Among the Dead in Banaras as a recent ethnographic text that documents their lives and labour. The Doms, a sub-caste within the Dalit community, perform the indispensable task of cremating the dead at Manikarnika Ghat, a labour that is central to the Hindu pursuit of moksha yet marked as polluting and degraded within the caste order. We discuss how the domination of caste, class, and patriarchy converges to perpetuate structural violence that impacts on Dom men and women through rigorous reading of Iyengar’s narrative and protagonists like Dolly Chaudhary or Aakash Chaudhury. The interpretation places Iyengar’s work within the framework of contemporary Dalit literary and cultural criticism, as well as new studies which frame that Dalit writing is an act of voice, dissent, and embodied testimony against Brahmin hegemony. Via an analysis of mythic narratives of the origin of Manikarnika, the sacrificial economy of moksha, the gendered precarity and vulnerability in which Dom women are steeped and sustained, and the occupational risks entailed in this work by Dom cremators, this article posits that Fire on the Ganges lays bare a paradox between social arrangements founded on recycling Dalit labour into spiritual uplift and denying to them questions power, human dignity. The article argues that Iyengar’s ethnographic account expands the project of Dalit literature by focusing on the lived experiences of the Dom community and by demanding a reconfiguration of caste, labour, and recognition in today’s India.

Reflections on the Psychology of Conversion: An Inquiry into the Life of Abdullah Adiyar Based on his Personal Narrative, Chirayshalayil Irunth Pallivaasal Vare (From Prison to the Mosque)

Saliha Rehmani, Dr. Zainul Abid Kotta — Fri, 31 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000

This paper attempts to examine the life of the famous writer and public figure of South India, Adiyar, later known as Abdulla Adiyar, who underwent religious conversion on June 6, 1987. Adiyar was a celebrated poet, author, playwright and journalist who was born as son of a communist father in a Tamil speaking community. Out of fascination for a new faith while being an atheist, he went through a drastic transformation in lifestyle, perception and vision of life. He authored several books on Islam, the most well-known being Chirayshaalayil Irunth Pallivaasal Vare (From Prison to the Mosque) and Naan Kadhalikum Islam translated as “The Islam I Love”. With a deeper exploration of his personal narrative, “From Prison to the Mosque” (translated into Malayalam by Abdul Jabbar Munniyoor as “Thadavarayilninnu Palliyilek”), this paper delves deep into the challenges encountered by the author, whose life journey eventually created widespread impact upon others too. Quests are central to most conversion narratives and identity crisis is often associated with them. Analyzing the motivational factors that affected his religious conversion, the psychological dimensions of faith change, and the influences of the author within the socio-cultural context that he lived in, this study discusses the personal experiences and challenges faced by Adiyar during his conversion.

Digital Humanities: A Blend of Technology and Humanities

Dr. Laxman Yadav — Fri, 31 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000

For the past two decades, Digital Humanities is an expanding field of study that incorporates the use of technologies in the traditional study of the humanities. Digital Humanities uses text mining, visualisation of information, geographic information systems, digital repositories, and other tools to study and research culture, literature, history, language, and society. This paper focuses on Digital Humanities. Specifically, it focuses on the history and development of the field, various approaches to the discipline, the uses of technology in the research and study of the humanities, and the challenges and possibilities for Digital Humanities in the future. Digital Humanities not only enhances research in the field of humanities but also allows for the research and cultural information to be more openly available for the public.

Big Data Analytics for Tracking and Visualizing the Spread of Disinformation in Social Media Networks

Dr. Nelsonmandela S, Dr. Broskhan P — Fri, 31 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Social media is rapidly disseminating fake news in an unprecedented way is now a global phenomenon that affects public sentiment, undermines institutions, and fuels political polarisation. The data in this paper is used with the big data analytics to track and visualize the spread of fake news online. Using cutting edge data mining, network analysis and interactive visualization, the paper shows how disinformation campaigns function in time and at their central nodes. This new model includes scalable algorithms and monitoring capabilities in real-time, to solve problems like data heterogeneity, multilingualism and ethical issues. Data show that the framework is successful in flagging disinformation hotspots and making it feasible to intervene, both for policymakers, platform managers and researchers. The study adds to a wider discussion about countering disinformation by providing an evidence-based way to minimise its social effects.

Masculinity and Vulnerability: A Study of Ram’s Emotional Journey in Ram: Scion of Ikshvaku

Ishita Upadhyay, Dr Parul Mishra — Fri, 31 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Amish Tripathi offered a new perspective on Lord Ram in the Ram Chandra Series. In Hindu mythology, Lord Ram is considered an avatar of Lord Vishnu and is typically portrayed as the personification of dharma and the ideal ruler, emphasising the importance of societal obligations over individual desires. Tripathi’s narrative presents Ram as a more humanized figure, highlighting his emotional struggles, guilt, and vulnerability. This paper examines the reimagined portrayal of Lord Ram in Amish Tripathi’s Ram: Scion of Ikshvaku. It highlights a shift from the traditional depiction of masculinity to a more nuanced character. This study analyses how Tripathi’s portrayal reconceptualises masculinity as a blend of strength, empathy, and moral integrity, rather than emphasising emotional detachment. Furthermore, this reinterpretation aligns with contemporary gender discourse by proposing a model of masculinity grounded in emotional intelligence and ethical responsibility.