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A weird scene is going viral on social media today. The boss is sitting in the White House surrounded by what appears to be a group of evangelists fervently praying to God for wisdom, grace and strength for the man who leads this one nation under God. Is it AI, you wonder?

“Sometimes the broiling sea of imbecility gets too much. Wave upon wave of cretins,” notes Edward Luce elsewhere about Trump’s America. Sadly such a mindset is not limited to one country. A new wave of conservatism – political, religious, and deeply hostile to liberals, peace-lovers and feminists – seems to be sweeping across the world as the shadows of war grow larger.

Ever since it began, mankind has seldom been so oblivious to the International Women’s Day being observed today and the threat that wars pose to the existence of women and children already struggling with major changes in their lives and environment.

Illustration: Pariplab Chakraborty

In India it is an under-reported fact that both in cities and villages, large joint families are giving way to smaller nuclear units. The young families are migrating with their children, leaving the vulnerable elderly behind.

But even after the nuclear families have migrated out of their villages or small towns, there are practically no signs that the ideology of the patriarchal socio-political system has given way to a more gender-balanced outlook. Marriages are mostly being fixed along clear caste and community lines and celebrated with even more ritualistic fervour. Inter-faith marriages are even more heavily frowned upon and often undone by family-led violence.

Besides this, both available data and social media messages show that even after half a century of Mandalisation, India’s democratic institutions are being led mostly by upper castes from the majority community. As they reap the benefits of all governmental schemes, the poor, especially our marginalised minorities, women and children are increasingly becoming invisible and largely irrelevant to the growth story.

As proof of the above, look at the image of a working mother........

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