{"id":8755,"date":"2024-10-04T05:17:37","date_gmt":"2024-10-04T05:17:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/?p=8755"},"modified":"2024-10-04T05:17:39","modified_gmt":"2024-10-04T05:17:39","slug":"indian-poet-rejects-us-backed-arts-award-in-solidarity-with-palestine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/?p=8755","title":{"rendered":"Indian poet rejects US-backed arts award \u2018in solidarity with Palestine\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Jacinta Kerketta is a poet from the Indigenous community of Oraon in Jharkhand in eastern India<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A poet and author from an Indigenous community<\/a> in India<\/a> has refused a US<\/a>-backed arts award \u201cin solidarity\u201d with Palestinians.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jacinta Kerketta, 41, has refused the 2024 Room to Read Young Author Award, jointly awarded by USAID and Room to Read India Trust for her children\u2019s poetry collection, Jirhul<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Room to Read India is an international nonprofit working in the areas of early-grade literacy<\/a>, gender equality<\/a>, and girls\u2019 education.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAs a poet, I want to show my solidarity with the children, women and victims of Palestine<\/a>,\u201d she told The Independent<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI saw that Room to Read India Trust is also associated with Boeing for children\u2019s education,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In August last year, the then-Indian<\/a><\/span>\u00a0minister of women and child development and minority affairs, Smriti Irani, announced the launch of two initiatives in Amethi, Uttar Pradesh, in partnership with Boeing. According to a Boeing India statement, the group was funding Room to Read\u2019s literacy programme, which was to be implemented in 60 primary schools over four years to \u201cnurture independent readers\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Boeing is said to be a key supplier of weapons to the Israeli Defence Forces<\/a> (IDF) and has a longstanding partnership with Israel<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ms Kerketta said: \u201cWhen children were being killed in Palestine, Room to Read India Trust in India was collaborating with Boeing for better education of children. And Boeing\u2019s relationship with Israel is linked to arms business.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHow can the arms business and care for children continue simultaneously when the world of children is being destroyed by the same weapons? Because of these concerns, I have declined to accept this USAID-supported award,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ms Kerketta has written to both USAID and the Room to Read India Trust, declining the award and explaining her reasons for doing so.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More than 16,000 children have been killed in Gaza<\/a> since Israel launched an all-out assault on the besieged territory on 7 October last year, triggered by Hamas-led attacks in southern Israel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe outrageous death of children is almost historically unique. This is an extremely dark place in history,\u201d Bragi Gudbrandsson, vice chairperson of a UN committee said last month. \u201cI don\u2019t think we have seen before a violation that is so massive as we\u2019ve seen in Gaza. These are extremely grave violations that we do not often see,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Jacinta
Jacinta Kerketta from the Oraon Adivasi community in Jharkhand refused the US-backed award due to Room to Read India’s ties with Boeing, a company linked to Israel (Jacinta Kerketta \/ Instagram)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Ms Kerketta is a member of Jharkhand<\/a>\u2019s Oraon Adivasi community<\/a>. She has authored seven other books, including Ishwar aur Bazar, Jacinta ki Diary<\/em>, and Land of the Roots<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is not the first time the Adivasi (Indigenous) writer has rejected an award for ethical reasons, having previously turned down an honour in solidarity with Adivasi struggles in the northeastern state of Manipur. \u201cThis is coming at a time when the respect for the life of the tribals<\/a> of Manipur is ending,\u201d she told Newslaundry <\/em>at the time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe respect for the life of the tribals in central India is disappearing as well, and people from other communities are also being attacked continuously<\/a> in the global society. My mind remains distressed and I am not feeling any thrill or happiness with this acknowledgement.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since May 2023, Manipur has been embroiled in violence between the majority Meitei and minority Kuki communities, driven by disputes over economic benefits and quotas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The book Ishwar aur Bazar<\/em> is dedicated to the Dalit and Adivasi communities <\/a>of Niyamgiri in Odisha, who have spent over a decade resisting bauxite mining in their region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI see many people in India remain silent about the genocide in Palestine. Just as there is hatred for minorities within the country, similarly there is no sympathy for the people of Palestine. As a poet and writer, this also troubles me,\u201d Ms Kerketta told The Independent<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her poetry collection, Jirhul<\/em>, aims to raise socio-political awareness among children, drawing from Adivasi culture. It was published earlier this year by Jugnu Prakashan, the publishing arm of Iktara Trust, based in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Independent<\/em>\u00a0has reached out to USAID, Boeing, and Room to Read India for comment.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/a>According to the International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs (IWGIA), approximately 705 ethnic groups are classified as Scheduled Tribes in India. In central India, these groups are commonly referred to as Adivasis, a term that means \u201coriginal inhabitants\u201d or \u201cIndigenous Peoples\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With an estimated population of 104 million, Adivasis make up about 8.6 per cent of the total population.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reference Link:- https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/asia\/india\/jacinta-kerketta-usaid-room-to-read-india-author-award-b2621234.html<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jacinta Kerketta is a poet from the Indigenous community of Oraon in Jharkhand in eastern India A poet and author from an Indigenous community in India has refused a US-backed arts award \u201cin solidarity\u201d with Palestinians. Jacinta Kerketta, 41, has refused the 2024 Room to Read Young Author Award, jointly awarded by USAID and Room to Read India Trust for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8756,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2],"tags":[4400,1231,105,52,51,4399,152,4397,4398],"class_list":["post-8755","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sample-category","tag-as-a-protest-refused-us-award","tag-genocide-in-gaza","tag-geopolitics-2","tag-israel","tag-palestine","tag-protest-against-israely-genocide-in-gaza","tag-public-sentiments","tag-indian-poet","tag-rejects-us-award"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8755","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8755"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8755\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8757,"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8755\/revisions\/8757"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8756"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8755"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8755"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8755"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}